Before the Beginning
by RaikouNeko12
Summary: The world of Pokemon: where a 10-year old child can go out and gain fame and fortune by mastering the art of the Pokemon Battle. This is the sole dream of one bright-eyed farm-girl. But things don't go as planned when events tear her happy family apart and the once anticipated world-wide travel now becomes a desperate fight for survival. Team Rocket AU
1. Chapter 1

"Jess...Jess, wake up!" My 8-year old sister whispered excitedly, shaking me out of my dream. I groaned and groggily opened my emerald green eyes, locking gazes with her crystal blue ones. "What is it, Jessee...?"

"The new foals arrived this morning!" Jessee went on excitedly. "I heard Dad tell Mom; Eight new ponyta! They're out in the barn right now!"

At the words 'new foals' I bolted up in bed, my red hair still in a tangled mess from the night's sleep. "They came?!" I exclaimed excitedly.

My little sister giggled giddily. "Yes! C'mon, let's go see them!" She jumped off my bed and ran toward the door. I pulled myself out and pulled a brush through my hair really fast, grabbed my glasses, and followed. As I pushed the lenses up on my nose, I saw Jessee was pulling our younger brother James out of bed. He was 7, two years younger than I. All three of us opened the door to our little ranch house and stepped out into the frosty December air, none of us dressed in anything more than pajamas. Excitedly, we all rushed to the barn where we kept our herd of Rapidash.

We pushed open the already ajar barn door and quietly snuck through the straw to where a few small lanterns hung. Our parents were already there, our father leaning up against the old weathered fence, our mother kneeling in the straw next to one of the new-born ponyta. Their fiery manes and tails hadn't appeared yet, so they were just little balls of beige fur on long scraggly legs. Our father was the first to hear us muddling through the straw. "Well good morning, our own little brood. I suspect you heard about our newest arrivals?"

"Awww! They're so CUTE!" My sister squealed kneeling next to our mother. The ponyta nearby lifted it's head and let out a little squeak. Then it stretched it's neck out and sniffed her face. Jessee stroked it's neck as it started to nibble some of her hair.

"You girls go ahead and each pick one out." Our father said. "I think you two are old enough to handle a Pokemon of your own."

I gasped. "You mean it, Daddy!?"

My father smiled. "Yes, go ahead."

Jessee wrapped her arms around the ponyta she was petting's neck. "I want this one!"

"And what about you Jess?" My mother asked, looking up at me. I stared over the little herd of baby Pokemon. It was really hard to decide. I wanted a first Pokemon that was strong...courageous...confident. That's when I saw a little ponyta on the far side of the group rising shakily to it's front legs. In a few seconds, it was up on all hooves. It looked over at me with strong black eyes and let out a little nicker. I smiled. "That one. I choose that one."

Our father gave my sister and me a red and white ball with a button on the front; a pokeball. We pointed it to the ponyta of our choice and the Pokemon each disappeared in a beam of red light.

That's when I noticed James looked a little pouty. "Don't I get a ponyta too...?" He asked quietly.

"Sorry, Son, I don't think you're old enough for a big Pokemon like a ponyta. But we have something special for you." He handed James a pokeball. James pressed the button on the front and from the beam of light materialized a shaggy orange dog-like pokemon with black and white stripes. A growlith. The puppy yipped and jumped up, licking James' face.

James giggled and hugged the little orange puff-ball. "Thanks,Daddy. I love him!"

"We figured we might as well give you your Christmas presents a little early...the holiday IS only a few days away after all." Our mother continued.

"And every child should have their own pokemon." Our father finished. "We hope you enjoy them.

I beamed down at the red and white pokeball in my hands. Finally...I had my own Pokemon. Some day I could start on my journey and become a pokemon master like the kids I saw on TV! I'd been studying really hard; I knew I could beat half of the trainers I saw in the tournaments that were televised on all the news channels! I would spend this next year training Ponyta, maybe even get her to evolve into a Rapidash, then we would go out and I would become the best Trainer the world had ever known!

Little did I know how quickly that dream could go wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

I worked with Ponyta every day. When she was finally bridle-trained, I went on rides with my father and sister. It was only a few months after this Ponyta evolved into a Rapidash. And not just any Rapidash...the strongest and most beautiful Rapidash in the whole world! My Rapidash! Jessee's ponyta evolved soon after mine did, and we two took over the majority of the ranch chores...as well as having daily races across the hundreds of wooded acres our family owned. But in the back of my head, I always had it determined that one of these days, I would apply for my Trainer's license.

It was three years after I got my first Pokemon that my fate was changed for me. I was 12. My parents had started fighting...Neither of my siblings nor I knew what they were fighting about, just that they were doing it a lot. During these rampages, Jessee, James and I went out for a ride on the Rapidash; just to get out of the way. James still didn't have a equestrian pokemon of his own, but he always would ride one of our dad's; he was quite a good rider too. Anyway, we all went for one of these rides around the acreage. When we got back, our father was gone. Mom was sitting at the table, her head in her hands, looking rather exhausted, defeated and frustrated about it. When we came in, she looked up.

"Ah, there you are...Did you go for a ride or something?" She asked us.

"Yes...where's dad?" James asked innocently.

My mother's face darkened. Jessee, James, please leave the room.

"But...Mom? What's going on?" My sister asked.

"Not now, Jessee, I need to talk to Jess right now. Please go to your rooms." My mother repeated, more firmly now.

When my siblings left, I looked back to my mother. "Am...I in trouble or something?" I asked.

My mother shook her head. "No. If anyone's in trouble, it's your father." She growled/groaned into her hands.

"Why did Jessee and James have to leave the room?" I went on. "If it has nothing to do with any of us..."

"I didn't want them to have to know yet...they are too young...too naive; honestly, I don't even know how I feel about telling you."

I raised one of my eyebrows. "So...then...are you going to tell me what's going on or not?"

After a long pause, my mother continued. "I caught you father cheating with another woman."

Shocked by her sudden bluntness, I sat down at the table across from her, as she continued. "I don't know why, but it was one of the rich young women from the other side of town. From what I've gathered, he's grown tired of our meek little life here on the Rapidash Ranch...he wishes for something more higher class."

The house was silent for a very long time. Finally I opened my mouth. "So...what's going to happen now?"

"I don't know. That's for the courts to decide. Until then, don't expect your father to be home for a while." I nodded solemnly and my mother continued. "Also, I must apologize beforehand if I become distant over the course of these next few days. I will have a lot on my mind...planning the divorce and things like that. If so, I'm sorry. And always remember that I love all of you very much. But from now on, Jess, you have to take care of Jessee and James."

I locked eyes with my mother, nodding again to show I understood, then rose and left the table without another word. I ascended the stairs only to find Jessee and James right in front of me.

"Dad's not coming home, is he." Jessee asked.

"You were listening the entire time, weren't you..." I sighed. "No. He's not coming back. He and mom are getting a divorce. I don't know anything else."

"Jess," James piped up. "What's going to happen to us?"

"Nothing." I replied, probably more harshly than I should have. I recoiled and tried again. "Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise you that. The three of us are going to stick together...Always. We're Newkens; NOTHING can separate us." I hugged both my siblings.

But once again, that dream too shattered before my eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

My parents' divorce happened very quickly. From the day we found out, it was only a few weeks before everything was over. Many of the belongings disappeared from the house, the rapidash herd was sold (with the exception of mine and Jessee's, obviously.) By the time everything was over, the ranch was barren and looked all-in-all, abandoned. These sudden changes took quite a toll on our little family, but the biggest shock was the one that happened last.

My father's new wife-to-be was filthy rich. From a rich family, with rich cousins, who had rich friends...Just plain rich. She and he were able to hire the best lawyer on the market. Safe to say, that lawyer was ruthless, and in the end, left my family with little to nothing at all. After the whole ranch had been divided between my two parents; my mother getting some of the land and the buildings, and my father getting most of the furniture and interior stuff; a new subject came up-one that I had failed to, or had been too scared to, consider earlier.

I was at home taking care of Jessee and James when my father stormed through the door, my mother not far behind.

"Jim, please; you've already taken almost everything from me...Why are you trying to take my children too?!"

"Mya, honestly." My father yelled back, ignoring the three of us standing in the kitchen. "You're being unreasonable. You fail to consider that these children are half mine too; I have the right to them. Also, how do you think you are going to support three children on nothing?!" The two glared at each other for a moment. That's when I noticed that my father's mistress was now standing in the doorway. Looking back now, from a worldly point of view she was beautiful. Perfect porcelain skin, sleek black eyes lined with makeup, full red lips, diamond earrings and a matching necklace, and all this un-holy human glory cloaked in a sparkling black gown. But from my point of view, as a child whose family was being torn apart by this siren, she was hideous. When I looked at her, all I could see was a venomous wild ekans staring back at me. The temptress moved out of the doorway and stood next to my father, who put a lusting arm around her. The whole scene was revolting. I moved in front of Jessee and James and touched the pokeball with my Rapidash hanging from my belt...I was the only thing standing between my siblings and this demon.

When we were little, Jessee and James accidentally angered a wild arbok while they were playing in the woods. When the Pokemon was about to use it's fang attack, I jumped between. This was the exact same feeling.

"There's nothing you can do about it anyway. The deed is finished and signed." My father continued. "The only thing that's missing," He grabbed my brother's arm. "Is him." He turned now and talked to James. "Pack your things. You're living with me."

"What?"

"No...!"

"You wouldn't dare...!" I growled, gripping my pokeball tighter, my index finger finding the button on the front.

"I am your father and you will do as I say!" My father roared, still talking to James.

James yanked his arm away and clung onto my shirt sleeve. "I'm never going with you...! Growlith!" His orange, black, and white Pokemon came plodding into the kitchen. When he saw my father, his fur stood up and he began to growl. James went on. "I'm staying here with Jessee and Jess. I'm never going with you and you can't make me!"

My father sighed exasperatedly. "Pack, don't pack, I don't care. But you're coming with me whether you come on your own or I have to drag you out kicking and screaming." He pointed at James. "I'm coming back in three hours. You had better be ready." With that, he and his wife-to-be left.

The house was silent for five minutes. My mother sat down at the table with a long sigh. "James, you had best go pack your things."

"But mom, I don't want to go with him; I'm staying here with you!"

"James Ivory Newken, don't contradict me." My mom ordered, tears in her eyes. "Go up to your room now, and pack your suitcase."

James' eyes misted and he turned silently climbing up the stairs to his room. Jessee and I stood for a moment in pure shock before bolting up after him.


	4. Chapter 4

James sat on his bed, obviously trying his hardest not to cry. Growlith lay on the bed next to him, his head on his lap, whimpering quietly. When Jessee and I came in, James mumbled without looking up, "Why can't dad just let me stay here? He's turned into a big jerk!"

I sat down on the bed next to him. "It...might not be so bad..." I tried to assure him. "You're going to live in a big house, and have a lot of money, and have all kinds of great things that we couldn't afford here. And what's more, you'll still have Growlith." I reached over and scratched the pokemon's ear.

"Oh, sure, like you're all of a sudden making this whole divorce thing sound good." Jessee interrupted. "Our brother is being taken away from us. And now you can just act like it's no big deal?!"

I glared at Jessee. "You're not helping..." I snapped, then I turned back to James. "Look, I know it seems hopeless...Trust me, I don't want this any more than you do. But you just have to be strong now." James sniffed and looked up at me. I continued. "You're going to live in a big house, with lots of money, probably even with servants and cool stuff like that...You won't ever have to worry about what to eat, you'll have all kinds of new clothes and probably lots and lots of pokemon...And no matter what, you'll always be our brother." I hugged him. "One day, when the time is right, you'll come back to us, and we'll be one big happy family again." James sobbed again and I hugged him tighter. "Just be strong." I whispered. "We'll find a way through this...we're Newkens. It's what we do."

On the dot, a long black limousine pulled up to our little ranch house. Our father stepped out. James stood on the front step, Growlith sitting loyally beside him. James didn't say a word, but picked up his large suitcase of belongings and stepped into the car. He cast one longing glance back up to us on the front porch, my mother grasping the railing with her frail hands, looking weaker and paler than I'd ever seen her, my sister and I standing on the steps, dumbfounded that all this was happening so quickly. James' face turned downcast, a strand of his blue hair falling into his green eyes. He looked like he might say something, but before he could open his mouth, our father pushed him into the car. He then pulled out a pokeball and held it out, a red beam shooting out of the front and Growlith disappeared. Then our father followed James into the car without saying a word to me, Jessee, or our mother. In a thick cloud of dirt behind the limo, our brother disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

Our mother fell ill after that. She grew thin and frail, hardly able to do anything for herself. Jessee and I were forced to meet the chores and housework as our mother rarely got out of bed, and when she did she usually sat in her big chair in the living room, staring through the bay window at something Jessee and I were never able to see.

Because of the sudden onset of responsibilities, between school and the house chores, my dream of becoming a Pokemon Trainer was practically abandoned. How could I leave my younger sister and unresponsive mother while I went to fulfill my own selfish desires. I still took Rapidash out for a run now and then, but as time wore on this happened less and less. I was almost to the point were I was ready to give up pokemon entirely, give Rapidash to a good home and devote all my time to helping around the house, but that's when fate decided to deal me a new hand of cards.

I was out giving Rapidash some exercise in the trails behind our house, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I looked again and I could see light flashing through the branches and leaves a little farther up ahead. I looked to the sky, but there wasn't any sign of a storm, so I kicked Rapidash into a gallop to investigate. To be honest, I didn't know what I was expecting to find, but I was shocked by what I saw.

It was a Pikachu caught in a glass box-a trap. The little yellow pokemon stood about a foot tall, not including its long black tipped ears. Its red lightning sacks on its cheeks glowed and cracked with the charge. It let off another scream and the box lit up, but none of the electricity got out. In frustration, the pokemon began smashing itself against the sides of the box, letting off electricity as it did so, desperate to get out.

I dismounted Rapidash and slowly approached the trapped and scared pokemon. It heard me coming and turned toward me, growling and letting off it's charge, assuming me to be the poacher that had set the trap. I knelt down beside the trap and whispered soothingly, "Calm down. I'm a friend, I'm trying to get you out." I lifted the box and found the trap door. After pushing and pulling at it for a while, but getting nowhere, I turned to Rapidash. "Rapidash, use stomp on the box." Pikachu understood what was happening and without any direction from me, curled up into a tight ball. I set the box down in front of me and Rapidash reared up, coming down hard on the glass. It didn't shatter as I'd hoped, but the pressure did create a long snaking crack along the top of the box. Seeing the break for freedom, Pikachu used a tackle attack on the crack. The glass shattered and Pikachu landed on the grass in front of me, shaking off the small shards. I knelt down next to it. "Are you ok?"

"Pi." It replied with a nod.

"What do you think you're doing?" A voice from behind me asked. Rapidash whinnied and I turned around. A man stood behind me, his messy purple hair tied loosely in a low ponytail. His outfit was obviously a uniform of some sort, with a high-collared cropped white shirt, and long white pants. His long black leather gloves matched the boots he was wearing. There was one more thing...a large red R lay on the front of his shirt. I had no idea what it meant, but I could sense it wasn't a good thing.

Next to him flew his pokemon, a Beedrill; a large wasp-like pokemon with some nasty venom. I've always hated Beedrill so the presence of this pokemon didn't win the guy any points with me.

The uniformed man took a step forward. "Do you know how long I've had to work my butt off trying to come up with a trap strong enough to hold that little rodent? You just wasted a lot of my time and money, so now I'm going to waste you're life." He gestured to Beedrill. "Beedrill, poison sting attack!"

The poisoned darts shot from the pokemon's front legs and headed toward Pikachu. Without hesitation, I leapt in front of him, tucking the furry yellow pokemon under my body, as the poisoned barbs stuck into my skin instead. I gritted my teeth against the pain, trying not to make it obvious that the toxins penetrating my bloodstream. I pulled Pikachu away from me a little and whispered, "Make a run for it! I'll hold him off you!" I let him go and the little yellow pokemon leapt from my arms and disappeared into the underbrush.

I turned toward the poacher, grasping the reins of my horse pokemon for support. "Rapidash, go!" Rapidash snorted and tossed her head, pawing the ground in anticipation for the coming battle. "Rapidash, flamethrower, now!" I ordered, struggling against the poison to keep my footing. Rapidash obeyed, opening her mouth and blasting the wasp pokemon with a flurry of flames. The beedrill, however, blocked the attack, deflecting it with its blade-like front legs. The bug-type made a dive toward my Rapidash for a poison-sting attack, but Rapidash leapt out of the way just in time and retaliated with a powerful horn attack. This time the attack hit it's mark and won me a little time.

I gritted my teeth. My back felt like it was on fire. "Rapidash!" I chocked out, "bring it to the ground and use stomp attack!" My pokemon did as she was commanded, but knowing my intentions, Beedrill was able to avoid the stomp attack, which was meant to be the finishing blow. I growled.

"I believe it's my turn now," The poacher said with a smirk. "Beedrill, double team."

"Fire blast! Get rid of the decoys!" I ordered, but it was already too late. Rapidash wasn't able to find the real pokemon fast enough and they all slammed into her with a tackle attack. Rapidash is strong, so the attack didn't hurt her too much, but I could still tell she was weakened by it.

"Now, use poison sting!" My opponent called out. I looked up to see the bee pokemon coming down on my Rapidash again, and it was just enough to pull my senses together in time. "Flamethrower NOW!"

Rapidash obeyed without hesitation, toasting the bug pokemon and sending it down back toward its master. I breathed a sigh of relief; this match was almost over…good. The venom was starting to make my vision get blurry…I didn't know how much longer I could hold out.

"Get up, you worthless thing!" The poacher yelled rudely at his pokemon. The beedrill strained but ultimately couldn't move. It fainted on the grass. "Hmph." the poacher groaned. "You're worthless…No matter, I've got more where he came from," He returned his pokemon to its pokeball and reached for another one.

Wait…he had more…? The fight wasn't over yet? Internally I panicked. I couldn't keep my vision straight and I was sure I was starting to slur my words. Rapidash likewise, though not totally worn out, couldn't take much longer of a fight…and I had no more pokemon to let her rest.

Thats when I saw it. A little yellow blur. I thought it was a venom-induced hallucination at first, but after seeing the poachers reaction to it, it must have been real.

"Huh? What are you doing back here, you little—"

"Piiiiiiika—CHUUUUU!"

I squinted against the light that followed the thunderbolt attack to see what had happened. The pikachu I had saved had come back for some indiscernible reason and had electrocuted the poacher into next year. The pokemon landed, breathing heavily from the adrenaline as the poacher lay on the ground twitching from the lightning bolt.

After a moment Rapidash reached down her head to nuzzle me, still obviously in pain, and getting worse by the second. I hardly noticed. "P-Pika…?"

The pikachu turned and stepped toward me. "Pika pi?" he asked, wondering if I was alright.

"I'll be ok." I said assuringly with a smile. "I've been through worse than this." In truth I thought I might pass out, but I couldn't let him know that. That's when I noticed his gait. It was uneven; he wasn't putting any weight on his right hind foot, and his yellow fur was stained with spots of red. I hadn't noticed it before in my surprise and urgency to get him out of the trap. How many bouts with this poacher had this little pokemon had?

I reached out toward him. "Come on. If you let me take you back to my house I can get you patched up. You'll be good as new. Then anyone who tries to mess with you won't even be able to keep up."

Pikachu seemed uncertain at first, casting wary glances around at the woods, then back toward the poacher, then back at me. Finally though, it made up its mind and it limped as fast as it could over and put its front two paws up on my knee. I picked it up and pulled myself unsteadily to my feet, using Rapidash's stirrup and saddle horn for support. I dropped Pikachu onto Rapidash's back and almost lost my balance. Rapidash was quick to grab me, clenching my shirt in her teeth and whinnying. "It's ok, girl. I'm ok." I assured her, pulling myself weakly into the saddle and, with one hand on Pikachu sitting in front of me to steady him, kicked clumsily at her flank with my heels. "Giddy-up." At my command she pulled forward at a clean smooth trot.

It was good that Rapidash knew how to get home from where we were. In my condition, I didn't' even know which way the sky was. I'm pretty sure I was unconscious for a good portion of the ride. I had made a good choice that Christmas when I was 9 though, on what ponyta I would choose. The rapidash it had turned into was not only swift, but had a sailing gait that when you felt it you could swear that you were flying. This is probably the only reason I didn't end up on the ground during the long trek back from the woods to the house. When we arrived at the front porch though, I had just enough consciousness left to register that we had stopped moving. "Come on…" I said, as I practically fell off my mount and pulled the Pikachu off with me. "Let's get you cleaned up…Jessee! Jessee!" I called, slurring so much, I couldn't even understand myself.

My younger sister somehow did though, as she came out onto the front porch, dishcloth still in hand from where she was doing the dishes. When she saw me she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Jess! What the heck happened to you!"

I practically shoved the Pikachu into her arms. "Here….I can't help him right now…" I mumbled, falling onto my hands on one of the steps.

Jessee grabbed my arm and pulled me up the stairs, "Then come on, I'm not leaving you out here." She dragged me into the living room with one arm, holding the limp body of the Pikachu in the other. She cleared off the coffee table and lay the pokemon onto it. She went to work on the Pikachu first as I lay on my stomach next to her trying not to let the beedrill's poison sting pull me under. Jessee and I had planned to try to get into Pokemon medicine after high school, so we had been studying all we could. I was very confident she could handle Pikachu's injuries. Luckily we still had some potions and antidotes lying around. Jessee cleaned the pokemon's cuts and bruises stitching a few up that were rather deep. She wrapped his hind foot up tightly and let him rest while she went to work on me. She pulled out the fragments of barbs that were still in my back and applied a homemade salve to them as I tried to tell her what had happened. Though the salve was helping to pull some of the toxins out, I was still slurring quite a bit. Jessee gave me an antidote for beedrill venom which I took gratefully and almost instantly started to feel better.

"You know, you probably should have called the police." Jessee admonished after I had finally gotten the whole story out. "That guy was trespassing and poaching pokemon, I'm pretty sure both are arrest-able offenses."

I shook my head. "With my brain so full of beedrill venom I couldn't even think, much less try to call the cops to tell them what was happening. And by now the guy is probably long gone…"

At this point Pikachu was starting to stir. It's ears flicked a little and it rose to its four paws and stretched.

"Hey little guy, how are you feeling?" I asked, turning toward him on the coffee table.

"Pi pikachu!" The pokemon exclaimed.

"Glad to hear it." I said with a smile. "You shouldn't push yourself too much right now, so you can rest here until your injuries are gone, and then I'll take you back to the woods.

Pikachu cocked his head a little but nodded. Jessee turned to me. "Where are we going to keep him until then. If Mom finds out there's another mouth to feed, she's going to freak."

"Mom doesn't even know what's going on half of the time anymore, nor does she care." I retorted. "Trust me, it'll be fine, plus it's only for a little while until his injuries heal."

I was interrupted when I heard Rapidash whinnying outside. I ran to the window, followed by Jessee. We both gasped and then screamed in sheer joy and amazement. Then we both ran outside almost stumbling over each other to tackle the person outside.

Our brother.


	6. Chapter 6

We both glomped James, almost knocking him to the ground.

"What the heck are you doing here!" I asked after I had gotten my wits about me enough to pull myself off him.

"I would expect you to be happy to see me." James replied, sounding a little hurt.

I looked him over, it had been a few years now, James was 14 years old. He had grown up a lot. He looked more like a man now than when he had left. "I—I am, but how are you here right now? Does dad know where you are?"

"All right, you two, hold off, let's go inside. We'll talk more then." Jessee interrupted.

Jessee pulled James into the house, calling for our mother while I returned Rapidash to her pokeball. When I came into the living room shortly before my mother did, who stared at James in disbelief, her dull eyes, her pale skin, her sunken cheeks…I had forgotten how sickly she had become.

James didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't care. He moved into her and wrapped his arms around her frail frame, hugging her tightly. He was as tall as she was now. She didn't say anything, hardly moved. Finally she pulled away a little. "James…w-what are you doing here…?" her voice was faint, hardly over a whisper.

"Mom…I'm home." James replied, still smiling, though her apathy toward his appearance was clear to have hurt him. He then went on to explain how he hated his life, how miserable it was living with our father and stepmother, how lonely and boring it all was, and how he had been planning this escape since the first day. We all listened silently, absorbing every word of his story. Finally James finished. He stared at us, but no one said a word. Finally my mother broke the silence. "You need to go back. I'm calling your father." She turned toward the kitchen, still not displaying a single emotion.

James grabbed her arm. "Mom, no! Didn't you hear what I said? I hate it there! I can't stand it! Please! I want to stay here with you!"

My mother pulled her arm away fiercely. "It doesn't matter what you want. It doesn't even matter what I want. Your father now has sole custody over you. And since you're a minor, you cannot be anywhere but under his care." She continued into the kitchen. James was on the verge of tears. He clenched his jaw and I could see his fists shaking at his sides. I dropped my gaze to the floor and bit my lip, in danger of crying myself. In my heart, I'd known it would come to this, but I'd hoped maybe there was a legal loophole I didn't know about. No. I had been right. James could never come back to us. I heard my mother talking to my father in the other room, then a click as she came back in.

"Your father is coming right now to pick you up. He is very upset, as am I. Don't go trying this again." Without any other word, she turned and went back up to her room.

James really was crying now. Tears streamed down his cheeks even though he was trying his best to remain manly. "I—I thought she would still love me…"

I steeled myself and moved in to wrap my arms around him. "She does….ever since you left she's never been the same. Something broke inside of her…you can't blame her for this…"

"But I DO!" James yelled back at me. "Do you know how much I had to go through to even get here in the first place?! I walked for miles to escape that place just to be told I would have to go right back not even an hour later! I can't take it there any more! I can't take it!"

"Really, James, how bad could it—"

"They are trying to force me to get married to my stepmom's niece!"

Both Jessee and I winced.

"Yes. Ever since the first day this has been going on. I have to wear all these tight itchy clothes, sit through hours of private tutoring sessions, and any free time I get, I'm forced to spend with that…psychopath!"

"Ok, James, relax, we get it." Jessee replied. "But there's really nothing we can do about it right now. At least not until we have a little more time to maybe come up with a plan."

"You don't have too much more time…" James retorted. "They plan on hitching me up with that witch on my 18th birthday. Then, I'll be screwed for sure!"

Just then we heard the screeching of brakes as a long limousine pulled up the dirt road in front of our house. Our dad stepped out of the back, climbed the steps and knocked on the front door calling out in a deep and frightening voice. "James Ivory, come out here this instant!"

James panicked. I grabbed hold of him to keep him from falling. "James, it's going to be ok. I promise you. We'll think of something. We'll get you out of there."

James took a hard breath an nodded, then pulled himself stiffly toward the front door casting a last frightened look back at us before opening the door and disappearing from our lives again.


	7. Chapter 7

I sat on my bed and buried my head in my hands. My brother's surprise visit had now brought on a new challenge. I now had to come up with some sort of plan to get him out of my father's clutches within the next four years, and KEEP him out of them at least until he turned 19. How on EARTH was I going to do that…!

"Pika pi?"

I jumped at the voice, startled at where it had come from and having forgotten about my little friend I had taken in that afternoon. But once I saw the little yellow body I relaxed again. He must have run off and hidden while Jessee and I were preoccupied with James' visit. "Sorry little guy, you startled me. I didn't mean to forget about you like that." I tapped my knee with my forefinger. Pikachu read my intentions and jumped up onto my lap. "Are you hungry? I might be able to whip you up a little something." the pokemon's stomach growled, affirming my suspicions. I chuckled a little. "Alright then. Food it is." I picked him up and made my way downstairs. I set him gently on the floor next to me and opened the refrigerator. "Now, let's see, what do Pikachus like to eat…?" I asked, mostly to myself. Pikachu scanned the shelves with me, but then stood up on his hind legs and pointed at a small bag of apples we had sitting on the bottom shelf. "Pika."

"You like apples?"

"Pi."

"Alright then. It's settled." I replied pulling out two large juicy apples from the bag and bringing them to the sink. After I'd washed, cored and cut up the apples into perfect little slices, I picked up Pikachu and carried him and his dinner back to my room.

As Pikachu munched happily on the apple slices, I sat and pondered my predicament some more. It seemed clear to me that we'd have to get James out as soon as possible and get him as far away from town as we could in a single night, possibly even change his identity. Heck, maybe we'd even have to change all of our identities, how should I know! "Ugh…." I buried my face in my hands. I wanted to be a pokemon nurse, not a spy! Well….I actually wanted to be a trainer, but I was far too old to start on my journey now. Besides, Pokemon nurse wasn't a bad profession.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu asked, pausing his eating.

"It's nothing…" I replied. "It's just…Now I've got to save my brother like I saved you from that trap earlier. I don't know how I'm going to do that…"

"Pi?" Pikachu cocked his head.

"No, don't worry about it. It's fine." I replied. I sighed and got off my bed, turning my back toward Pikachu so I could pull my shirt off. "I'm going to go to bed. You can do anything you want, but just don't cause any trouble." I pulled my long silky nightgown over my head, then turned off the lights and crawled under my covers. I could hear Pikachu gnawing away at the apples some more for a little while longer then I felt something warm and soft jump over me and curl up inside my body. I opened my eyes and could see just the two stripes on Pikachu's back and the end of his tail as he was curled up in a tight ball against my stomach. I felt my heart jump a little. This act of trust moved me. I felt so much love for this little pokemon at this point I could hardly contain it. I pulled a hand out of the covers and stroked the pokemon's back. His fur was so soft and silky like a plush blanket. I stroked him one more time before pulling my hand back under the covers and letting myself follow him into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Our mother died a few months later. The doctors said it was probably from depression…apparently this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with terminally ill patients…The sadness gets to be too much and the body just…gives up.

We couldn't afford a funeral really…besides, no one would have come; we didn't really have family friends anymore since my mother had rarely left the house since the divorce….So we just had a simple burial…a priest came and said a few words…it was nice enough as funerals go I guess…

The problems arose after the funeral. Our mother hadn't made any sort of preparations prior to her death, or if she had years ago, they were all long gone now, so all the money we had left went toward taking care of her death rites. And with me and Jessee just barely out of high school, we by no means had any sort of steady job that could take care of our needs.

I rode Rapidash a few miles to the nearest library a couple days after my mom's burial. My vow echoed loudly in my head. My mother had called me in shortly before her final breath. "Jess…" She had said her voice barely audible. "I need you to promise me something…"

"Of course, Mom. Anything!" I'd replied, assuringly grasping her thin bony hand tightly in my own.

She stared into my eyes. "You're such a good girl…You've taken such good care of Jessee and James when he was still with us…" She whispered. "I need you to promise me…you'll keep this family together. You and Jessee…you only have each other now…"

"But…Mom, what about James?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level.

"James…I don't know where he is any more…" My mom whispered looking up toward the ceiling and closing her eyes. "The day your father took him away…it was like the day he died inside me…" She opened her eyes vaguely again. "If you ever find him again, protect him, but Jessee is your priority now. As far as I'm concerned she is the only one you have left." She squeezed my hand as tightly as she could muster, which wasn't much. "Promise me that you will look out for her. You two must stick together. You're both Newkens….Never forget that…"

I cupped her hands in both of my own, my eyes misting. "I won't, Mom. I promise, I'll take care of her."

My mother smiled, for the first time I'd seen in years. "That's my girl…" Then she closed her eyes and that was the last I'd ever heard her speak.

Now, I sat at the library and searched through their archives for Pokemon Medical School phone numbers, as well as help wanted ads for part time work. My mom was right, Jessee and James were the only people I had left, and I was determined to make good on my promise and keep us together. As soon as we were out of risk of being homeless, I would start my search for James.

That's when we ran into a bit of a problem…you see, nationally, the pokemon centers are run by the Joy family…And unless you were somehow related to a Joy, or had one as a reference, it was almost IMPOSSIBLE to get in…Unless you were a pokemon.

That gave me an idea. It was, admittedly, a stupid and crazy idea, but it was worth the shot. I filled out an application for admittance, mailed it in, and waited.

Three days later a letter came it a firm crisp envelope. I tore it open and had to hold my breath as I read through the fine black ink. Then my excitement welled and I gave a whoop and ran all the way back to the house.

I burst in the front door. "Jessee! Jessee! You won't believe it! I have great news!"

"Perfect timing, Jess, I have to talk to you too…" Jessee replied, coming around the corner from the kitchen, her face serious.

"Ok, but my news first." I interjected, sure that whatever bad news she had for me would be forgotten once I told her my good tidings. "Look what we got in the mail today!" I thrust the torn envelope into Jessee's hands. "We just got accepted into the Chansey school of Pokemon medicine! They said, despite being human, you and I showed incredible promise, and they would be willing to make an exception to the rules for us! We're going to be Pokemon nurses!"

I was expecting a squeal of delight but to my surprise Jessee just smiled at me. "That's great news, Jess. I'm so glad. Thank you."

My wide grin dropped. "Jessee, what's wrong, I was expecting you to be a lot more excited! I mean, this is your dream!"

"Jess…It's been a couple months now…I know you don't want to but…You have to let your pikachu go back into the wild…"

My heart felt like it stopped. "What…Why? It—it's too soon!"

"Jess, all his injuries are healed. And we can't afford to feed another mouth. Honestly, I think you should sell your rapidash too, but I'm not going to make you do that. I know how much she means to you. And at least she has a poke ball she can be kept in." she was silent for a while. "Jess, we're broke. I already talked to a real estate agent about putting the house up on the market. And besides, if we're going to go away to this school, we'd need to get rid of everything anyway."

I pursed my lips together. She was right after all…I had just…I'd grown attached to the little pokemon. I never had many friends and Pikachu…he was like the best friend I'd never had. But it was true. He was still a wild pokemon. And a deal was a deal…

That afternoon I took Pikachu and Rapidash and went for one last ride deep into the woods. I did this all the time with Pikachu, but he seemed to sense that this time was different, as he sat silently on the back of the saddle clinging tightly to my waist, instead of hopping on my shoulders or hanging onto the saddle horn and looking excitedly around as we galloped through the pastures.

Finally we reached the heart of the woods where it was too dense for Rapidash to run anymore. I pulled her to a halt and dismounted, picking Pikachu up with me. I tied Rapidash's reins loosely to a branch and carried Pikachu a little further into the underbrush, so as to have some time alone with him. Finally, about a hundred feet in, I stopped and set him onto the ground. Pikachu looked up at me, cocking his ears in confusion.

I tried to smile and look happy. "Well, little guy, you seem to have healed up perfectly. I don't think you'll have to worry about that poacher any more."

"Pi?" Pikachu asked cocking his head.

I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. "Y-you're free to go now Pikachu. Go home to your herd. The poacher won't bother you any more."

"Pika?" Pikachu asked again.

I gritted my teeth. "Pikachu, you need to go! I can't take care of you! You have to live among your own kind! You'll be safe there!"

"Pika! Pi pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed grasping tightly to my leg and shaking his head.

"What's there not to understand!" I yelled at him, shoving him off harshly, but tears welling up visibly in my eyes. "You can't stay with me!"

"P-pika…?" Pikachu whimpered, taking a step back, tears forming in his eyes as well.

"No, you can't. You have to leave!" I yelled again, trying to mask my own pain with harshness. "I never intended to have you stay with me, so just go away!"

"P-pi…?" Pikachu shrunk back again, his jagged lightning-bolt tail drooping.

"Goodbye, Pikachu." I snapped, turning my back to hide my face, but unable to hide my voice cracking. I moved back toward where Rapidash was still standing.

Pikachu bounded after me. "Pika pi!" He latched onto my boot as I put my other in the stirrup "Pika pi pikachu!"

"Let go, Pikachu!" I scolded, trying to kick him off, but Pikachu thrashed his head and wouldn't relent, tears running down his cheeks.

I clamped my eyes shut, forcing out tears of my own. "Rapidash," I commanded, "Ember attack"

Pikachu reacted just a moment too late, as the small balls of fire burst forth from Rapidash's mouth. Pikachu let out a horrible cry as the ember attack hit him head on. The sound speared through my heart and made my stomach clench, but I lifted myself into the saddle anyway. I forced myself to look at my friend on the ground, fur now matted and burned, a look of pure hurt and betrayal on his face. But I saw in his eyes that he still intended to chase me down. I gritted my teeth, stifling a sob. "Rapidash, stomp attack."

Pikachu's eyes widened as Rapidash reared up with a whinny. But I clamped my eyes shut and closed my ears so I wouldn't hear the horrible sound if the attack made contact. As soon as I felt Rapidash hit the ground I kicked her flanks turning her back to the house. After only a few strides though, I couldn't keep my composure any more and burst into sobs. I held onto Rapidash's neck and let the warm flames of her mane lap at my face as she guided us both back home.

I lay on curled up on my bed, clenching a small pillow to my chest. I'd run out of tears a long time ago, and now was just trying to fill up the empty feeling in my heart somehow. But the small round pillow made a poor substitute for what I really wanted. It lacked the soft silky fur, the warm body heat, the little static shocks that it gave as it nuzzled its face into my skin…

Jessee was leaving me alone, and probably for the better. I didn't want to see anyone. I felt so torn up inside. On one hand I was finally able to do the stuff I'd wanted to do; travel, become a pokemon nurse, find my brother—on the other hand so much bad had happened; out mother just died, I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends, we were losing our home and had no money to live on…Was I supposed to be happy or upset? I couldn't even tell anymore. Right now I just felt empty.

It had started raining about an hour ago. The sound of the rain hitting the roof and the distant thunder was at least comforting me a little. I buried my face into the pillow. The vague scent of Pikachu's fur was still there. I tried to focus solely on the positive memories and not dwell on the image of him lying injured on the ground at my command.

I rolled onto my back, throwing the pillow onto its place on the bed. It wasn't helping me feel any better, so what was the point…I thought about letting Rapidash out of her ball to give me some comfort, but as I reached for the ball I thought better of it. The floorboards were in no way strong enough to hold a pokemon of her size; she'd fall straight through the living room ceiling. I sighed and let my hand flop back beside me.

The house was quiet. Jessee must have gone to bed some time ago. The only sound I could hear was my own breathing, the rain against the roof, the thunder rolling a few miles away, and a faint "Chuuu"

Wait…a what?

I sat up in my dark room and listened again. No, I definitely heard it, a pikachu's cry coming from downstairs. I got up and snuck out of my room so as not to wake Jessee. I tip-toed down the steps. The cries got louder and were followed by a flash of light reflected in the front window. I slinked closer and grasped the door handle, getting a nice sharp shock in the process. It couldn't be, could it? I turned it slowly and opened the door. Sure enough Pikachu stood there, breathing heavy from the strain of trying to shock the door down. His tiny shoulders heaved up and down with each breath but he seemed to brighten when he saw me standing there, letting off a small squeaky, "Cha."

The poor thing looked awful. Wet matted fur, singed from ember attack, some small blisters appearing on its skin where the fur had been completely burned off, bruises and scrapes all over its body from trying to chase me down, but I'd never been so happy to see a pokemon in my entire life.

I fell on my knees in the doorway, tears again pouring out of my eyes. I wasn't able to say anything, I just reached out my arms and he lunged into them, soaking my nightgown with mud, rainwater, and blood, but I was beyond caring. I had my buddy back and this time I was never EVER going to let him go again!


	9. Chapter 9

I stayed up the entire rest of the night treating Pikachu's injuries with what supplies we had left in the house. Fortunately we still had quite a bit of unused burn ointment from when we still had the herd of rapidash, so after spraying a bit of that on his skin Pikachu looked a lot better. I wrapped up the rest of his injuries in nice clean bandages and took Rapidash's curry comb to the rest of his fur. After he'd dried and been brushed out he looked much better. The medicine had made the blisters go down and the skin around them was no longer as red and inflamed. As soon as his fur grew back in in a couple of days he would be as good as new.

I leaned back in my chair at the kitchen table and took a moment to admire my work. Pikachu seemed to harbor no ill will toward me, as he sat up onto his haunches and perked his ears at me with a happy little "pi!"

"I'm glad to have you back too, buddy." I said as I reached over and scratched between his ears, careful not to mess up the bandaging on his head. He just smiled and pressed his head into my hand with a "Cha!"

It was at this point I heard the stairs creak. My heart jumped a little. What was Jessee going to think when she saw Pikachu back. Would she think that I had gone back out to find him when she was asleep? That I didn't understand how dire our situation was? Would she try to make me abandon him again? Or would she even go so far as to try to get rid of him herself? I steeled my will. No. Pikachu had come to find me. If he was willing to still chase me down despite the horrible thing I tried to do to him it had to have been fate, right? Besides, I was the head of the family now. She couldn't make me do anything I didn't want to, and I was not going to let this pokemon go again.

Jessee came around the corner. "Good morning, Jess. You're up early. How are you…" She stopped when she saw Pikachu. I saw every emotion pass over her face but interrupted her before she could say anything.

"Before you ask, yes. I did try to let Pikachu go like you suggested. But it was a horrible mistake. Despite all odds he came back to find me. He is my Pokemon now, and I will not be leaving him again. That is final."

Jessee pursed her lips together. I thought she was going to fight my decision but after a few moments of silence she just shook her head. "Fine. But I will not be taking any responsibility for that rodent. If he gets us into trouble or we're not able to eat because of him, I'm blaming you."

I sighed in relief. Pikachu jumped into my arms with a whoop of joy. "He won't be a problem. I promise you that."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Jessee replied shaking her head noncommittally. She threw a towel in my direction. "Here. Go clean yourself up. You look disgusting."

I shot her a dirty look but tossed the towel over my shoulder anyway, still holding Pikachu in one arm. "Just because you can't stand it when your appearance gets messed up doesn't mean the rest of us even care."

"Yeah yeah. Whatever." Jessee replied, not even looking at me as she went about preparing a small breakfast for herself. "Seriously though. You are getting dirt all over the kitchen floor. We're having a real-estate agent come this afternoon and I'd like to have the house look somewhat presentable…"

I rolled my eyes, but she was right. My nightgown was covered in dirt and blood from Pikachu's injuries and I did still have to take a shower anyway. So, up I went toting Pikachu along.

Two days later, the house was empty. All our bags were packed, and Jess and I were in our nicest clothes ready for our first day of school. I had pulled my hair back into a nice lavender bow, even putting on some of Jessee's makeup. Jessee came out with her plaid skirt and blazer with her favorite peridot earrings Mom had given her as a birthday gift a few years ago. I was taken back to when she was a young girl back in middle school and felt a little flush of love and pride come over me for her.

"Here, Jessee," I volunteered, "Let me do your hair really quick." I sat her down and braided her hair into two french braids on either side of her head. She'd loved this style when she was young. Mom always put her hair up like this before school. I tied them each off with a tiny lavender bow that matched my own. When I finished I stood up proudly. "There. Beautiful."

"Pika Chaaa!" Pikachu agreed as Jessee looked up at herself in the mirror. She smiled. "This brings back memories, doesn't it, Jess."

I chuckled leaning on her head teasingly. "You could pass for no older than 13 years old if you wanted to."

Jessee shoved me. "Oh please, I'm a bit too tall and too developed for that." She looked back in the mirror. "Still though…It does remind me of when we were in school. Things were so much simpler then…"

I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her around to look at me. "Things will get better. I promise. Look, your already going to fulfill your dream. It's only upwards from here, right?" Pikachu leaped onto my shoulders, and raised a tiny fist of determination into the air. "Pika!"

Jessee gave me a confident smile. "Right. Let's get moving. We have a destiny to fulfill!"

Jess and I called our Rapidash and loaded what few belongings we had left into their saddlebags. The Chansey School was a few towns over, so we would have to take a train, but we would be riding the horse pokemon to the train station. Once everything was tied down and secured we mounted and started off. After only a few feet though, I had to stop and look back.

"Jess? is everything ok?" Jessee asked, turning her mount and coming up alongside me.

I stared back at the old childhood home. It looked so cold, barren and empty now, with the grass no longer lush and full, the paint on the old barn pealing, the fences in disrepair and a brand new "For Sale" sign posted out front. Yet, still the memories of living and playing there my whole life came flooding back and the realization that I would never see the old place again. "I…I'm just going to miss it…that's all…." I replied to Jessee, my voice hardly over a whisper.

Pikachu sat from where he was comfortably snuggled between the packs and saddlebags. He cocked his head sympathetically at me. "Pika pi?"

Jessee on the other hand didn't care about the sentiment. "Oh come on." She said, taking a hold of one of my rapidash's reins and pulling her forward. "We can't keep looking to the past or we'll miss the now."

Rapidash lurched, bringing me back to myself and yanking the rein away from Jessee's grasp. Jessee rode on, her rapidash's hooves making small clouds of dust behind her as she trotted down the dirt road. I sighed and allowed myself one last look at the farmhouse that used to be my home, trying to memorize every inch of it as though I was afraid I would forget what it looked like and all the memories that came with it. Then I turned away and kicked Rapidash into a canter to catch up to Jessee.


	10. Chapter 10

When we finally got to the school, we got signed in and they assigned us to our dorms. I was happy to see that we got a dorm together. Honestly this would only make sense, since we were the only two humans on campus, but still I was relieved. Pikachu though I had to hide in my saddlebags at admissions and would need to keep hidden in my room at all times while we were here. The administration seemed ok with the rapidash so long as they were kept in their pokeballs the entirety of our stay. I don't know what would have happened if they found out we had a pokemon that didn't have a pokeball like Pikachu. Suspension probably. Then Jessee would never forgive me for ruining her dream.

This was a relatively short program, only about six months total, since it was designed for pokemon who were already naturals at this sort of thing. But if things went well here we could possibly apply for one of the human schools and get accepted on merit without needing a recommendation from a member of the Joy family.

Jessee chose the top bunk right away. She leapt onto it and lay on her back staring up excitedly at the ceiling. "I'm so anxious. I wonder what tomorrow is going to bring for us." She rolled over and looked down at me while I was still unpacking and rearranging items from my saddlebags. "What do you think, Jess. Do you think these classes are going to be hard? What kind of things are we going to learn here?"

I shrugged as I pulled out my nightgown from the pack, refolding it and setting it aside for later. "Jessee, I honestly can't say. I don't think they'll be too terribly difficult for us, seeing as how we've learned a lot of stuff just from living on the ranch, but we will probably learn some new stuff too, like how to take blood, or how to insert an IV."

Jessee shuttered. "I didn't think about that."

I laughed. "Last chance to back out now if you don't think you can handle the pressure."

She chucked a pillow at my head. "Not a chance. I'm not getting this close just to give up on the doorstep." She folded her arms and stared again at the ceiling. "I've given vaccines to rapidash, stitched wounds, put tubes down their throats for colic…If I can do that, I can handle anything."

I chuckled again. "Yeah…I was generally the one to do all of that stuff. You mostly stood back and watched, maybe fetched water or something, but you were always too afraid of getting yourself dirty or gross."

Jessee chucked another pillow at my head. "I did it sometimes….!" But she was smiling. She laid back into the mattress. "I can't wait for tomorrow. I'm here! I'm finally here doing what I've always wanted to do."

I smiled to myself as I went about folding up the saddlebag and sliding it under the bed. I was just happy that she was happy. But in the back of my head, the image of my brother still floated around. I STILL hadn't come up with a plan for how to get him out…I tried to convince myself that an idea would come to me when the time was right, but that did nothing to calm the whirring in my mind.

"Hey, Jess?" Jessee asked, interrupting my thoughts. "Do you think you're going to be up much later?"

"Probably not, but I was going to read over these textbooks and try to get an idea of what to expect for tomorrow."

"Ok, because I was going to turn in early to make sure I'm up and ready tomorrow morning." Jessee explained, climbing back down the ladder to the bed and picking up her nightgown and toothbrush. "If you don't mind, using the small lamp on the desk or a flashlight please?"

"Sure Jessee, not a problem." I replied with a small smile toward her as she left the room to go to the dormitory washrooms.

That night, as I lay in the dark on this foreign bed, Pikachu curled up as always beside me, I couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness. The realization of what was happening was hitting me again. I had literally nothing but what was in my saddlebags. No home, no job….my stomach clenched a little. I hoped that this all wasn't a big mistake. If things didn't work out, I would have nothing to go back to…I gripped the comforter, which I guess disturbed Pikachu, because he picked his head up and looked at me groggily. "Pi?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

I gently stroked the fur on the back of his head right between his ears where I knew he liked it most. "Its nothing to worry about, Pikachu. Go back to sleep."

Pikachu yawned and scooted up a little closer to me. I rolled onto my side to cocoon around his body to let him be more comfortable. He soon drifted off to sleep, but I was still wide awake. I was too anxious. So I just lay there listening to the silence until our alarm went off.

Jessee was quick to respond to it. She practically leapt off of the bed and tapped the alarm to turn it off, flipped on the light and ripped the covers off of me. "Time to get up; the rest of our lives are about to begin!"

Pikachu tumbled out of the mess of covers, miffed at being so rudely awakened. He shot a dirty look at Jessee, but then shook off and went about cleaning his face and ears. Then he tapped me lightly on the hip. "Pika pi."

"Yeah, I know, Pikachu." I replied reaching out and rubbing between his ears, which earned me a cute little "Chaaa!"

Jessee was floating around the room getting dressed, humming a little song that she was making up on the fly. Her hair was still in the two braids I had put it in the day before. She seemed unbelievably chipper—more than I could say for me. My eyes were swollen from no sleep and the light was burning them. But I forced myself to rise anyway.

"Good Morning Jess, I hope your ready for a big first day." Jessee chirped, smiling toward me, oblivious to my sleepless night.

I forced myself to smile back despite the pounding in my head. "G'morning, Jessee…" I picked up my dress clothes from where they sat folded on the dresser. "I'm going to go wash up. I'll be back in a moment."

I walked down the dormitory hallway in my nightgown to the washroom. The halls were filled with a chorus of "Chansey, Chansey, Chansey." I could see the large pink pokemon filing in and out of the bathroom and was suddenly hit with a nervousness. Jessee and I were literally the only humans on this campus besides the teachers. Everyone else was a pokemon. I felt my anxiety well up again. I felt so out of place, like I shouldn't even be here. I tried to shake it off. "They're just pokemon," I told myself. "No different than Pikachu or Rapidash. Just Pokemon and other students. And if Jessee doesn't feel uncomfortable neither should I."

I got to the sink and splashed a handful of cold water on my face. It was all going to work out. Jessee was finally realizing her dream. She was on cloud nine and that's all that mattered. Once we'd established ourselves we could go find James. Everything was going to be ok.

I wiped the water out of my eyes and looked into the mirror to see one of the chansey staring at me. "Oh…I'm sorry…did you need the sink?" I asked, moving out of the way. Chansey smiled at me and chirped an ever happy "Chansey" as she stepped up to the sink and went about washing her face.

For some reason I still couldn't shake my discomfort though…Chansey were known for being super intelligent and unbelievably strong, as well as for having a naturally caring and nurturing demeanor. That's why they were usually favored by the Joy family as their nurses aids. As I changed into my knee length skirt and white button up shirt, I tried to figure out why I was feeling so uncomfortable. Was I being speciesist? How? I loved Pokemon! All types of Pokemon! I had never had a problem with chansey before! Was it just because I felt outnumbered by them? That I stuck out like a bright green ball in this field of pink? I banged my head against the bathroom wall. I was being ridiculous. Jessee couldn't find out about my sudden trepidation…it would tarnish her excitement—and I enjoyed seeing her happy like this…

I felt eyes staring at me and peeled myself off the wall to look at them. It was the chansey from before, looking up at me with its huge round eyes. It cocked its head and bounced a little as it chirped, "Chansey?"

"Yeah…I'm sorry. I'm fine." I replied, trying to give it a confident smile, but I wasn't feeling any of the confidence I was trying to convey. I hoped Chansey didn't pick up on it. She did anyway, and patted me on the back chirping again, "Chansey chansey!"

"I know…everyone gets nervous on the first day, but it's a little more than that…" I replied uncertainly." Chansey cocked her head waiting for me to go on, but I didn't want to. So I just smiled at her again. "Don't worry about it. I'll be ok—really." To my surprise, this time my smile didn't feel forced. Chansey had somehow made me feel a little better.

Chansey gave me a small smile in return and hopped off singing "Chansey chansey chansey." I too finished getting ready and headed back to my dorm.

When I got there, Jessee was already dressed and waiting for me. She was as giddy and excited as ever, touching up her hair, making sure her uniform was straight; I couldn't help but smile a little over her sheer joy. There was no way I could let her know how uncertain I felt now.

She looked up and smiled at me. "You ready to go, Jess?"

I forced a smile back. "Ready as I'm going to get."

Pikachu hopped onto one of the bedposts. "Pika pika!" He exclaimed perking his ears up.

I smiled at him and rubbed his head. "Thanks, Pikachu. Your support means a lot."

Jessee picked up her small bag of books and pencils. As she pushed past me she grabbed my arm. "Come on, Jess, we're the only humans here—we don't want to make a bad impression by being late." She dragged me out of our room and I barely had enough time to lock the door as she pulled me down the hall.


	11. Chapter 11

Our first day was pretty standard. We sat in a small classroom with a group of about 20 or so chansey while the teacher and headmaster, the only other human in the school, went over her whole introduction monologue. Jessee and I sat in the very back of the classroom, being the tallest students there, but also so I could feel a little less singled out. Though in this room packed with chansey I felt even more like a sore thumb than ever.

"This course will only last for six months. Do not fall into the trap of thinking this will be easy, however. You will be expected to eat, sleep, and breath your studies for these next months. Not all of you will succeed." I felt the headmaster's eyes staring directly at Jessee and me. "If you cannot get a perfect score on every test, you will be failed and you will have to start from the beginning again." She smiled stiffly. "But for those of you that do pass, the reward is great, and you will be more than qualified to carry out your duties here after."

The entire room erupted into a chorus of "Chansey." My sister too, chirped "Jessee" right along with them. She elbowed me hard when she saw I wasn't reacting, but I had the teacher's words floating around in my head: "Test," "Perfect score," "Fail"…How on earth were we going to pull that off? I'd never even gotten a "perfect score" when I was in elementary school! I closed my eyes and prayed the tests were something super simple, like what to do for poison sting, or how to treat a burn…even setting bones I could handle…

Jessee jabbed me again with her elbow and brought me back to myself. The headmaster was talking again. "First off, we're going to start with the most common injuries you will likely encounter: cuts and abrasions." She started writing things on the board, about how to properly wash it, clean it with an antibacterial agent like isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or a general potion that could be bought at almost any convenience store. Then she went on about how to properly bandage it and we separated into groups for our first group activity. I breathed a sigh of relief as I bandaged my partner's front paw with perfect care, delicacy and grace. This I could handle! How many times had I needed to bandage the knee of a rapidash that had stumbled on the rocks, or of a ponyta that got nicked by its playmate's hooves while roughhousing, or even the puncture-mark of a horn after a young rapidash stepped out of line in the herd and a fight had broken out. At this, I was a pro!

As we switched places and my chansey partner now tried her hand at bandaging my arm something caught my eye. Jessee and her partner were right next to me and Jessee noticed my staring. "Jess, what is it?" She asked.

I motioned with my head toward the corner of the room. It was the chansey that had confronted me in the bathroom this morning. The entire roll of bandages lay strewn about all over her and her partner, a look of total panic and confusion all over her face.

Jessee watched the scene for a moment then, seeing as she and her partner had already finished, she stood and walked over to her. "Would you like a few pointers?" I heard her ask. Chansey nodded and Jessee proceeded to pick up the strewn bandages and roll them up again. She was too far away and speaking too quietly for me to hear now, but Jessee was just as good at bandaging as I was. I know Chansey wouldn't stay lost for long.

At this point, my partner had finished with me. The bandaging was tight enough that I was starting to loose circulation in my fingers, but I smiled at my partner anyway. "Good job." I choked, "Just next time, try a little looser, ok?"

Chansey just smiled and bobbed a nod at me. "Chansey!"

Jessee soon came back around and sat down. I leaned over to her. "So that was, what, your good deed for the year?"

Jessee shot me a dirty look. "I just don't like to see someone struggle so much, especially with something I know I could help with." she looked back to the chansey. The teacher was coming over to inspect the work. She sang a word of praise, patted the pokemon on the head and moved on to the next student. Jessee smiled and turned back to me. "See?"

I shrugged as I tried to wiggle my fingers to get the circulation back in my hand. "It's just not like you. That's all I'm saying."

"Jessica Newken. No talking during class please." The teacher quickly admonished us.

"Yes ma'am." We both replied in unison. Then we were silent for the rest of the day.

That night, Jessee lay in bed above me, I sat up with a flashlight and Pikachu curled up on my lap studying for the next day.

"You know, if every day is going to be like this one, passing this class will be a breeze." Jessee said, I could tell by her voice that she was smiling and totally confident.

"I wouldn't be so sure." I replied, flipping back to the table of contents in the textbook. "I mean, most of these lessons are pretty easy, but some not so much…How to insert an IV, blood testing, x-rays—not exactly stuff we have much experience with…"

Jessee scoffed. "Inserting an IV; I'm sure thats a piece of cake. You find the main artery, you stick it in. It can't be that much harder than giving a shot." She rolled over the side of her bed. "Which, might I add, we've done plenty."

It was true. Vaccinations, deworming, colic: we took care of all of these ourselves, not only for the rapidash and ponyta, but for James' growlith too…well, while he was still with us. "Honestly I think there's a little more to it than that." I replied. "Plus, each pokemon is different, requires different care. We only really have experience with horse pokemon, one growlith and one pikachu." Hearing his name, Pikachu woke up and picked his head up. "I mean, there are over 151 species of pokemon in this region alone! Thats over 151 specific rules and requirements to remember for each—even more for each pokemon's specific personality!"

"You worry too much." Jessee interrupted me." It's not like we're going to meet every single pokemon in the world. Some of those pokemon that are 'known' are extinct or considered legends anyway. Most of what we will probably be seeing are low leveled pigey, ratata, charmander, squirtle, bulbasaur…you know, those little kids that just started out and don't know not to go up against an onyx with a pigey." She flopped back on her bed. "Maybe we'll get one or two other pokemon in there, but I can guarantee you we'll mostly be getting little kids. And in reality we don't have to memorize, Every. Little. Detail. for Every. Single. Pokemon. It's mostly just memorizing types. Once you have the types down, the rest is easy to figure out."

I sighed. I wished I could have her utmost confidence about everything, but the teacher's comment still rang in the back of my mind. _"If you do not get a perfect score on every test, you will _**_fail_**_ and you will have to start back at the _**_beginning._**_" _There was no way I could feel confident with the ever present threat of all of it being meaningless looming over me.

I could hear Jessee's breathing slow—she was asleep now. So was Pikachu for that matter. It was 1:00 in the morning…maybe it was time for me to get some sleep too…I hadn't exactly gotten much the night before.

I flicked my flashlight off and set it and my book on the floor next to my bed. Then I picked Pikachu up as gently as I could, though I probably woke him up again, and set him next to me as I rolled over to get some sleep myself.


	12. Chapter 12

Days went by. Every day was a new lesson, a new partner project, and at the end of the week, a new test. I found out later that there weren't the standard written tests as I had feared. Instead, there were hands-on tests—more-or-less demonstrations—with willing participants from the local Pokemon center. The Nurse Joy there would bring over some of the sick pokemon that were willing and had gotten permission from their trainers, and each student would demonstrate whatever technique they were asked, under the supervision and scrutiny of both the headmaster/teacher, and Nurse Joy. If they felt the pokemon was in danger they would automatically fail the student and finish the procedure themselves. This put me at ease a lot! I always freeze up a little on paper tests, but in-the-field demonstrations I can handle.

Jessee and her new Chansey friend, the one that had been having trouble with the bandages and had met me in the bathroom, were now pairing up most of the time for group activities. I was glad this chansey had befriended someone like Jessee to help her out. Her bandaging skill had gotten almost as good as Jessee's and her grades overall were improving. Jessee had been right, there was really nothing for us to worry about. Most of the techniques we had already done before, or were extremely easy to master. Plus we got plenty of practice time on each technique.

Chansey would sometimes join Jessee and me in our study sessions. When we'd meet up she would always ask how I was doing—if I was still really anxious. I thought it was a really sweet gesture and though she was more of Jessee's friend than she was mine, I couldn't help growing a bit fond of her. She was a little clumsy, a bit ditsy, and couldn't seem to grasp that she was about 40x stronger than the average human, but she genuinely cared about every living thing. She was extremely sweet and always tried really hard to be the best nurse she could be.

Then, the day came that I feared more than all the rest.

It was the week before graduation. So far, Jessee and I had managed to pass all of our tests without any problems. Chansey too. And with graduation just next week what on earth could happen that would cut our chances for graduation now?

The headmaster stepped up to the front of the room, her usual stiff smile on her face. "As you know, next week is your graduation ceremony. You've all done very well so far. You can all breath a sigh of relief because this week's lesson is quite easy." Jessee and I sat forward. "You're last lesson is going to be on using your sing attack to calm restless patients."

The entire class cheered a chorus of "Chansey! Chansey!" But both Jessee and I caught our breath. Neither of us could really sing, and there was no way we could sing well enough to soothe a pokemon to sleep…! What's more, how were WE not going to fall asleep in the process.

The headmaster continued. "Tomorrow we will have a cumulative exam. It will just cover all the techniques you've learned up to this point, to make sure you've retained them all. On Thursday you will be taken to the Pokemon center for the final exam: singing the pokemon there to sleep. Bring your singing voice." With that she dismissed the class and left.

Among the clamor of the class getting up and leaving, I glanced over at Jessee, who turned toward me at the same time. Her eyes were as wide as I'm sure mine were, but finally she cleared her throat and straightened her cardigan on her shoulders. "Well, that means we're just going to have to try to figure out a trick to staying awake. We have four days to train ourselves, I'm sure we could figure something out."

Well if she could feel confident in this time of desperation, good for her. I on the other hand was panicking. Sing attack was 100% accurate: It ALWAYS put any living thing within the vicinity to sleep. I've never heard of anyone, pokemon or human, training enough to render sing useless…

Chansey bobbed happily over to us. She smiled happily, but her smile fell when she saw us. "Chansey?" She asked, turning to me, staring off into space, gripping the desk with enough pressure that my knuckles were turning white. "Chansey?" She said again, taking my hand to check my pulse.

"She's fine." Jessee told Chansey. "She's just panicked because she doesn't know how we're going to pass this last exam…"

"Chansey Chansey?" Chansey asked.

"That's the thing." Jessee replied. "Neither of us has the ability sing, and whenever we hear a song we fall asleep." She paused. "Do you think that you could help us? Maybe if we get used to the attack we'll be able to stay awake for it."

Chansey broke into a broad smile again. "Chansey!"

Jessee began peeling my fingers off of the desk. "Come on Jess, we've got a lot of work to do."


	13. Chapter 13

I'd like to say that the training went well; that we were able to emulate the affects of the actual attack or at the very least able to build up an immunity to the actual one. But, it didn't. It was a complete disaster. I mean, the singing practice went ok…I still don't think either of us should join a choir or anything, but Chansey was able to help us get a few simple notes down that could suffice. Counteracting the other chansey's attacks though…That was impossible.

On Wednesday, while Jessee was with Chansey in the dorm room still trying to find a way to develop immunity to the attack, I went to the headmaster's office to seek a more tangible solution.

Nervously I knocked on the door. "Come in." The headmaster's harsh voice came from the other side.

I took a deep breath and put on a brave face, trying to stop the shaking in my knees. Slowly I turned the knob and opened the door. The teacher sat there, shuffling through papers, her grey hair pulled back in her usual tight bun, perfect suit, free of any sort of defect or even a stray hair, thin bony hands that almost looked like small spinarak shuffling through all the papers, and her thin pointed eyes never looking up at me as she said, "What is it, Jessica."

I bit my lip again. "I-It's Jess, ma'am. My sister and I have the same first name, so sometimes we won't respond—"

"I will call you by your name." The headmaster interrupted, startling me enough to jump. "Again, what do you want, Jessica."

I took a breath and tried to let the issue die. "Ms. Westworth, it's about the final exam…"

"What is wrong with the final exam?" The headmaster asked coldly, looking up from her thin reading glasses.

"W-well…you see…" I started, "My sister and I are having a hard time with the effects of the sing attack….we can't seem to develop an immunity to it and we just fall asleep like the pokemon…" I paused to regather my thoughts. "W-would it be possible if you could allow us to wear earplugs? Or even do the test in another room?"

"Out of the question." the headmaster snapped. "I cannot give special treatment to every student of this school. This is a prestigious program and graduates of this school are held in very high esteem. If I go around changing the curriculum, making exceptions for students who are struggling we would loose that prestige."

"But…Ma'am, we're not pokemon! You can't expect us to do something a Pokemon can do naturally! What's more, without any sort of way around it; that is just setting us up to fail!"

"When you came to this school, you agreed that you would do the entire curriculum regardless of the fact that it was designed for chansey." The headmaster interrupted me again. "You still came, knowing that there might be requirements that were entirely impossible for you to complete as a human, whether by stubbornness or stupidity, I don't know. Now you have finally reached that point. I cannot hand out special treatment just because you and your sister are humans and not the pokemon for whom this school was intended. Either you can take this test, sing the pokemon to sleep and graduate, or fail the test and need to take the course over again. At that point I would tell you to reevaluate your life choices. The likelihood of either of you actually becoming pokemon nurses is improbable at best." She went back to shuffling her papers. "You are dismissed. You have a lot of work to do before tomorrow. And if I catch you or her with earplugs of any kind I will immediately count it as cheating and you will be given an automatic F for the course, be suspended from the school, and be asked to leave the campus immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

I bit my lip, shaking more now from anger rather than from fear. "Yes ma'am. Perfectly clear." Then I turned and left, letting the door slam hard behind me.

When I got back to the room, I was still fuming. Jessee and Chansey were still sitting on the floor trying to get past the effects of sing, but they stopped when I came in.

"Well, Jess? How'd it go?" Jessee asked, clearly getting her answer from my face, but asking anyway.

I sat hard on the floor next to Jessee and Pikachu jumped into my lap, wanting me to save him from the constant singing and stopping. I took a sharp breath and answered. "Well, she basically told us to go screw ourselves."

Both Jessee and Chansey were taken aback. "What are you talking about? Jess, what happened?!" Jessee asked leaning forward to me.

I shook my head. "Just what I said, either we're going to take the test with the rest of the chansey, stay awake, and pass, or we can do anything else and fail. But if we get caught with any sort of earplugs or anything like that we will automatically be failed and escorted off the premise." I looked up at her. "She basically set us up to fail from the start."

I saw Jessee's jaw tighten, but then she took a deep breath again and sat up, crossing her arms. "It can't be helped then. We'll just have to keep training or find some sort of trick to staying awake. But I've come this far, I'm not going to just let some cheep trick like this slow me down now." She glared at me, a fire in her eyes now. "We're going to take that test, and we are GOING to pass it. I don't care how we have to, but we'll figure something out. We'll show that witch who she's dealing with!" She clenched her fist turning back to Chansey. "Let's get back to work. We'll train all night if we have to!"

Chansey replied with her standard happy, "Chansey!"

Well, at least someone had confidence in us…


	14. Chapter 14

Dawn came, and we were still no closer to figuring a solution out than before.

"It's no use…" I told Jessee. "We're just going to have to risk it. Maybe if we pump ourselves so full of coffee we can't see straight maybe we might have a chance…" I offered, grasping at straws to be helpful.

"Well, it's an idea, I guess…" Jessee sighed exasperatedly. She was tired. So was I for that matter. This was not going to be good for the test today.

I nudged Pikachu awake from where he had passed out again on my lap from all the singing. "Pikachu. I need you to give both Jessee and me a nice shock. Just enough to get our blood pumping."

Pikachu nodded and jumped off my lap, charging up for a second before letting it all off with a strong "CHUUUU!"

It seemed to do the trick. There was no danger of falling asleep now. Too bad I couldn't bring Pikachu with us to the Pokemon Center to help shock us awake if we started to drift off.

Jessee shook it off and straightened her hair. "Well, that did something. Too bad the effect won't last till after the test…"

"We'll just have to out last the pokemon in the center…that's all." I offered. I stood up. I'm going to go to the dining hall and see if I can swipe their coffee pot. We've still got an hour or so before we need to meet the rest of the class, plenty of time to make the strongest pot of coffee I can…"

We both chugged down one, then two pots of the bitter drink, not adding anything to make it taste any better. After the second pot, I felt instant regret. I don't even really like coffee but not adding anything to it was even worse. My mouth felt dry and my tongue felt sandpapery against my hard pallet. The back of my throat was scorched and starting to burn. A shudder ran through me. Never again. Never, never again.

Jessee tried to hide a shutter too, but she just clenched her fist. "There. Now if that doesn't keep us awake, nothing will!"

Chansey, who had followed us to the dining hall, rubbed her head a little nervously. "Chansey chansey…?"

I looked out the window at the sun rising. "We should get to class… we don't want to be late…"

Jessee nodded slowly. "Yeah…ok."

Jessee and I made the long walk with the rest of the chansey to the Pokemon Center, though it felt to me more like a death march. Jessee exuded confidence, but I knew there was a small part of her that was just as afraid we would fail as I was.

Jessee and I were sat by a gurney containing an oddish that by the look of it had a bit of leaf blight. I tried to focus myself on things that I knew to take my mind off what I was sure would be my impending doom.

The headmaster stood at the front of the room with the nurse joy of the center. "Now then," She said, "You will be required to sing these pokemon to sleep. The test will end when either all the pokemon are asleep or one full minute passes." She and Nurse Joy each slipped a pair of earmuffs on over their heads. "Begin now."

Oh sure, they could wear earplugs…

I didn't have any time to really mull over this unfairness as the rest of the chansey began singing. I had to close my eyes and focus all my energy as I sang the notes that Chansey had taught us in perfect pitch. I had to listen closely to my own voice and try to tune all the chansey out. Just tune them all out, focus on my own voice and just stay awake. And breathe…

Thirty more seconds…!

Inhale.

Almost there…!

Exhale.

Just focus on the tune…

Inhale.

Stay awake!

Exhale.

I wonder how Jessee is doing…?

Inhale.

Ten more seconds….!

Exhale.

Don't fall asleep…!

Inhale.

Almost Done!

The Teacher and Nurse Joy pulled off their earmuffs. "Congratulations, class. You all made it through the course. You are now Pokemon Nurses."

The whole class whooped with joy. Jessee flew across the table to hug me. Chansey too bounced over and was hopping up and down on her dainty pointed feet cheering "Chansey! Chansey! Chansey!" Jessee was laughing and crying all at the same time as she hugged and swung around me. I couldn't believe it. We did it?! We passed?!

Now I was crying too as I hugged Jessee back. We did it! Against all odds we were now Pokemon Nurses! Our lives were about to change!

"MISS JESSICA!"

I jolted up in my seat. The headmaster and Nurse Joy were both staring at me. In fact, so was the entire room. I turned my eyes to glance over at Jessee who was now sitting up as well and rubbing her eyes.

What happened…? We were just celebrating! We'd passed the final test. We were nurses now! What was going on?!

Unless….

"One does not become a Pokemon Nurse by sleeping on the job, Misses Jessica."

I was stunned. Too stunned to speak. It had all been a dream. The whole celebration. I had fallen asleep after all—and so had Jessee. I glanced over at her again. She looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock and die. I didn't blame her, I wanted to do the same thing.

"Y-yes ma'am…I'm sorry…." She managed to squeak out.

One test…One test and we lost everything. All our dreams…all our hopes…gone, like a puff of smoke.

The teacher turned and walked away without looking back. "Class dismissed. Chansey, I will see you all at the ceremony tomorrow. Jessica, please meet me in my office tonight if you feel you want to go through this course all over again."

I was unable to form words. Chansey was standing next to Jessee now, who had stood up with the rest of the chansey and looked like she was at the point of tears. I felt bad, like it was somehow my fault that all this happened. Like I hadn't done enough to get us through. maybe if I had smuggled some earplugs in, no one would have noticed. Heck, we'd have been no better off if they had…!

I pulled myself back and walked slowly over to Jessee and Chansey. "Come on, Jessee. Let's get back up to our room, we can figure everything out there." Jessee didn't reply to me, only nodded weakly and methodically. We waited for all the other chansey to file out of the room before we followed at a distance behind.

When Jessee, Chansey and I got back to our dorm, Jessee fell to her knees and slammed her fists against the ground. "It's not fair!" She screamed, startling Pikachu out of sleep. "What does she expect from us, it's not our fault we're not chansey!"

Chansey patted her back gently. "Chansey chan—"

"Don't touch me! I don't need your sympathy!" Jessee snapped.

"Jessica Nora!" I scolded. "Don't snap at her! It's not her fault, the cards were purposefully stacked against us. I'm sure if she were to have her way, we both would have passed." Chansey nodded, tears in her eyes.

Jessee softened. "I'm sorry, Chansey…I didn't mean to yell…Not at you…"

I picked Pikachu up, who was confused and worried about all the commotion that was going on. "Well, what do you want to do, Jessee…? We could try to take the course again, spend all that time trying to gain an immunity to Sing?"

Jessee shook her head. "Why bother. It's clear the teacher just doesn't want us here. Besides, we don't have any money left. We used the last of it just trying to get into this stupid school."

I nodded solemnly as tears began to roll down Jessee's face. "What's the point in fooling myself…I will never become a pokemon nurse…" Chansey wrapped her stubby little arms around her as Jessee started to cry.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning I already had our bags all packed. Jessee though insisted on slipping into the ceremony to see Chansey graduate. Since Chansey was pretty much her best friend, how could I not oblige her. So we snuck to the auditorium. All the lights were off, the only light source was the tiny candles illuminating the Chansey's faces, and the only sound was a chorus of Chansey alumni chanting a very beautiful harmony. I cracked the door open a hair and moved so Jessee could watch as Chansey mounted the stage and receive her diploma, nurse hat, and golden necklace with a tiny egg shaped charm on it. Despite her eyes overflowing with tears, Jessee smiled. Then she turned and whispered to me, "Thank you, Jess," Before closing the door again silently and moving toward the exit. I followed her as she opened up the school door and we both slipped out without a sound.

Jessee and I walked away from the school, Jessee standing straight and proud like nothing was wrong at all, not looking back once. I held Pikachu in my arms, worried about my little sister. This was typical for her; she wasn't one to snivel…when someone or something hurt her she more often tended to either get vengeful or bottle it and act unaffected at all. This was both a good and bad thing. She wasn't a crybaby, I could give her that, but she often would end up lashing out in anger at all the wrong people…and she wasn't one to really apologize either.

Suddenly I heard something coming up behind us. I turned and didn't even have to tell Jessee because she had heard it too.

"—sey Chansey!" Chansey called after us, running as fast as its tiny little feet could carry her. She ran straight to Jessee and handed her the nurses cap. "Chansey chansey!"

"Y—you want me to have your cap?" Jessee asked uncertainly.

"Chansey!" Chansey chirped happily.

Jessee knelt down in front of her. "That's very sweet of you…but no…You deserve it, not me." She put it back on Chansey's head. Chansey looked downcast again before suddenly brightening and reaching for the egg shaped charm on her necklace. She gripped it with both paws and with a little bit of strain it snapped in half. She handed the bottom portion to Jessee. "Chansey!"

Jessee's voice cracked as she took the small egg. "Oh Chansey…thank you…Now you'll always have a part of me and I'll always have a part of you."

"Chansey!" Chansey chirped with a nod.

Jessee let go of her bag and wrapped her arms tightly around Chansey's round pink body. "I'll never forget you, Chansey…" Her voice was cracking and I knew she was close to crying.

The sun was setting though, soon it would be dark and we had to get to the Center before the curfew. "Jessee…" I prodded as gently as I could.

"I know Jess," Jessee replied pulling herself off of chansey and wiping her eyes. She looked back at Chansey. "I have to go now, but I promise I'll never forget you. And someday I'm sure we'll meet again." She stood up and picked up her bag again. "Goodbye, Chansey." She said turning her back and walking slowly away from the school again.

I turned toward Chansey again. "Thank you Chansey. I'm sure you'll make a great nurse. We'll see you again someday." Then I turned back and caught up to Jessee already having left the Chansey School of Pokemon Medicine in the dust.

Jessee was silent all the way to the pokemon center. She just held her bag in one hand and stared down at the tiny broken charm clenched in the other. Her heart was broken, and there was nothing in the world that I could do or say to cheer her up, despite wanting more than anything to comfort her. So we just walked silently the five blocks or so to the pokemon center.

In addition to being a hospital for sick and injured pokemon, most pokemon centers acted as a free hostel for traveling pokemon trainers, paid for by the taxes of whatever city it was in. The catch was you could only stay there for a max of three days, unless you had a pokemon in the center that needed more time to recover. But right now it was all we had.

Jessee sat on a seat in the far end of the center while I went up to the counter and requested a room for the two of us from the Joy that was working there. She gave me a key, and I went back to Jessee.

"Hey, Jessee…we've got the key. We have a place to stay for a couple days. It's not much, but it'll give us some time to come up with a plan…" I said, trying to be as optimistic and reassuring as I could.

Jessee turned the charm over in her hands. She still didn't look up at me but she nodded to show that she'd heard. She picked up her bag and stood up. "Ok, Jess. Then lets go…get this day behind us…"

I led her down the hall to the room with the matching key number. I unlocked the door and let her in first. She went through but stopped in the doorway. I was about to ask why, but when I looked past her I got my answer. the room was set up almost identically to the dorm at the school. I bit my lip wondering if maybe I should ask Nurse Joy for a room on the opposite side.

Jessee took a shaky breath and walked into the room. She dropped her bag on the floor and sat on the bottom bunk. I flicked on the light and set my bag down gently in the corner. Pikachu jumped off my shoulders where he'd been riding and jumped onto the bed near Jessee. He put his front paws up on Jessee's leg and looked up at her. "Ka…?" He asked quietly. Jessee turned her head away and tried to wave him off, but he was unperturbed by her lack of fondness toward him.

"Pikachu, you stay here with Jessee, I'm going to go get some food." I commanded heading back toward the door.

"Pikachu nodded understandingly. "Pi."

I came back a few minutes later with some fruit for Pikachu and a bowl of rice and sautéed vegetables for Jessee, as well as a cup of hot tea. When I came into the room it was like they hadn't moved at all. I set the small bowl of assorted fruit on the desk across from the bunk beds. "Here, Pikachu. This is yours."

"Pika!" Pikachu chirped as he hopped off the bed and bounded to the desk, clearing it in a single bound.

As he sat happily eating, I took the tray of food over to Jessee. "Here, I got this for you too."

Jessee took one look at the food on the plate and immediately turned her head away. "No thank you. I don't want it."

"…I got you some tea too…lots of sugar…just the way you like it…"

Jessee's fists clenched the hem of her skirt. "I don't want it."

I sighed and laid the tray down on the floor. "Jessee…you should eat something. We can only stay here for three days, we should take advantage of the free food. Who knows when we're going to eat again…" Jessee was silent. "Do you want to talk…?"

"Everything…We bet everything on this one chance…We bet everything and we lost every bit of it…!" Jessee's lip quivered. "We have no money, no job, no home, Mom is dead, James is gone…" She sobbed, tears running down her cheeks. "We don't even have any hope left. There is nothing left for us! We're going to die, homeless and starving in some alleyway with no one to even identify our mangled corpses!"

She sobbed again, and thats when I grabbed her, wrapping my arms around her and clutching her to my chest, rocking her gently as I stroked her hair. "Jessee, that won't happen. I swear, I would never let that happen!" I pulled her off and wiped her tears away. "Look, this path didn't work out so well. I know you're heartbroken about it, but it's ok. We'll still use what we learned and we'll figure something else out. Something will come up. I promise you, we will be ok."

Jessee didn't say anything but tucked her legs up underneath her and leaned against my shoulder. I hugged her again and continued stroking her hair. I wouldn't say it, but I was feeling the same anxieties she was. It didn't matter. I had three days to figure something out. That was plenty of time, right? Sure, plenty of time…

I continued to rock my sister whispering, "We'll be ok…Everything will be ok…" I would never tell her this, but this was more for my benefit than it was for hers.


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning Jessee went into town. She had decided to sell her rapidash to a good home. I knew it killed her, but I could understand her decision. Rapidash and ponyta eat a lot—generally up to 10 or 20 lb. of food a day. Though that amount does get cut down if they spend a lot of time in their pokeball. When in the pokeball, the pokemon is put into a hibernation-like stasis, so while it still needs to be let out to eat and drink, it needs to do so much less often. But even spending most of its time in a pokeball rapidash and ponyta still need to eat about 20 lb. a week. And without any money for proper grains or our own pastures to turn them out in, I could understand Jessee being willing to sell hers. Truthfully, I was starting to think about doing the same with mine: selling her to a good home, letting her live out the rest of her days not having to worry about food, but I couldn't get myself to do that…not yet…she was my first pokemon and I loved her…I couldn't let her go just yet…

While Jessee was busy with that, I was wandering around town as well. However I was looking for a job, even a small one day job. Anything that could earn even just a little bit of money that could be saved for when the three days was up.

So far, I wasn't having much luck. We had started out around 10:00 am, and now it was about 1:00. I was tired and hungry…I wanted to give up. Plus, I was lonely. I had left Pikachu and Rapidash at the pokemon center for a quick checkup while I was out job hunting, so I was all alone. I stopped on a street corner and sat on the curb next to a lamppost. Just a short rest—ten minutes or so…then get back to it. There had to be somebody looking for some help…I leaned my shoulder against the post and let my head fall against it. The thunk of the metal hurt, but I didn't care. The sun was hot and I was starting to sweat…why couldn't a job just flutter into my lap…?

Suddenly I felt something hit my leg and fall off onto the street. I opened my eyes and picked it up. It was a poster. It must have been hanging on the lamppost and been knocked loose somehow. Curious, I looked a little closer at it. Maybe it was a missing pokemon ad that had a reward attached to it.

The poster was white and had two black silhouetted characters on it. In the background it had a watermark of a bold red R. In large font it said,

Calling All Pokemon Trainers!

**Think you have what it takes to be the best? **

**We're looking for strong, willing individuals to join our team.**

**We offer competitive salary as well as a unique opportunity to travel the world, see and capture the most powerful pokemon in existence, and the chance to work with the most elite trainers on the planet! **

**Unlock the secret of pokemon and join our team today!**

**( 18+ only please.)**

**Please take one:**

Below this, the poster had a number of cut slips of paper, all with the words "Team Rocket: 1-888-795-1775." A couple had already been ripped off. I followed suit and immediately ripped one off for myself. I tried to contain my excitement. This was perfect! It was even better than I had hoped for! Getting paid to catch pokemon! And travel the world! I would be able to find James! I jumped up from the curb and ran all the way back to the pokemon center, the phone number held tightly in my hand. Just wait till Jessee found out! Our luck was all about to change!

When I got back to the Pokemon Center, I went straight toward the videophones and sat in the one in the far corner. I dialed the number, now afraid that maybe it was a hoax or they weren't hiring anymore. I mean, this was all too good to be true. But when it finally connected the woman on the other end picked up and said, "Team Rocket headquarters, how may I help you today?"

I bit my lip a little and nervously responded, "Hi…um…I found one of your posters on a lamppost today, and I was wondering…are you guys still hiring pokemon trainers?"

"Oh, we're always hiring, miss." The woman responded with a smile. "That poster was just a part of our recruitment campaign, but yes, we are always looking for more trainers."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Well, my sister and I are both interested."

"Great!" The woman smiled happily as she typed away at the computer. "Could I have your names please?"

"Jessica Hacker Newken. N. And my sister is Jessica Nora Newken."

"Any preferred names?"

"Yes, most people call me Jess, and her Jessee: to aid with the confusion."

"Ok, and ages?"

I'm 19, and she is 18."

"Ok, and do you have much experience with pokemon?"

"We lived on a ranch for most of our lives, so yes."

"Alright. We have an orientation next week. I'm going to fax over the information to your location right now." I heard the fax machine boot up and she continued. "Please look over the information I'm sending over and be at the training center for orientation at 9:00am sharp."

"Understood. Thank you so much."

"Thank you, and have a good rest of your day." She smiled and disconnected. The screen went back to black. I got up and went over to the fax machine where I could hear the paper pouring out of it. About twenty sheets later, it finally finished and I picked up the mini book and tapped it straight. The same R that was on the poster was on the top of the pamphlet of information too. That must just be their logo.

I took the bundle of papers to the front desk where I requested my pokemon back. Nurse Joy gave them back saying they were both in perfect health. I thanked her as Pikachu jumped happily onto my shoulders and I clipped Rapidash's pokeball back onto my hip. I carried them back to my room, my excitement hardly containable. Pikachu could tell my mood was much improved and he kept chattering away and tapping my head to try to get me to tell him what had happened. But when we got to the room I told him to wait, because I wanted to tell Jessee and him all together.

Jessee came into the door a few hours later, her face sad, but seeming satisfied.

"How'd it go?" I asked gently, worried that she might break into tears again.

"Alright." Jessee replied, handing me a fistful of bills. "I know I probably could have gotten more for her, but I know she's in good hands."

I counted up the money. "Only $150?"

"Yes. I sold her to a young girl—couldn't have been older than 10 years old. You should have seen her face." She chuckled. "Kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age."

"Well, that's good then. And 150 isn't bad. We can work with that." I folded the money and tucked it safely away in a pocket. "I have some good news as well?"

"Oh? Pray tell?" Jessee asked and Pikachu picked his head up.

"I got us a job."

Jessee's eyes widened. "What?! How! Where?!"

I handed her the orientation booklet. "I found a poster looking for experienced pokemon trainers. I called the number and they got us in."

"Team Rocket….Never heard of them." Jessee replied a little skeptically, skimming through the booklet.

"Apparently they're an organization that catches rare and powerful pokemon, some of which they study for scientific purposes: how and why they evolve, what the difference is between skill and stone based evolution, the bond between pokemon and trainer, things like that." I explained. "From what I was reading, apparently its mostly their findings that get put into the textbooks, and almost all the pokemon professors have had dealings with them at one point or another."

"Sounds illustrious." Jessee replied, a little skeptical, but clearly impressed. "So what do we have to do?" She handed the booklet back to me.

"Well, we've got orientation next Wednesday. The lady I talked to said to be there by 9:00 am sharp. I already looked the address up." I pulled out a map I'd gotten from the pokemon center counter. I pointed to the red dot I'd marked and traced my finger to another red circle about a foot away on the map. "It's a trek, but I think we could do it if we leave tomorrow morning. If we stuff our faces, take some extra food to pack away, and we can use that money you got for Rapidash to buy more if we need it, we can make it there by Wednesday morning, maybe Tuesday if we're lucky."

I saw Jessee's shoulders drop. "Wow…that's a long way…I wish I hadn't sold my Rapidash now…"

I folded the map. "Don't worry. My Rapidash can carry both of us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. She'll need some breaks every so often, but I'm sure she can do it. Especially if we go bare-back." I pulled out the pamphlet again and flipped through it. "It says that they'll provide uniforms and food when we get there so we can pack super lightly, just pack a few necessities."

"You want to leave even more than we already have?!" Jessee exclaimed, starting to like the sound of this job less and less.

"We have about 50 miles to ride on one pokemon. My saddlebags can only carry so much. And besides, they said we'd have everything we need once we get there!" I flipped the pamphlet closed. "Jessee…It's going to be fine. I promise you that. Things are turning around for us."

"I hope you're right, Jess…" She replied with a small shake of her head. "I hope you're right…"


	17. Chapter 17

It was a long and very difficult trip, mostly uphill through rocky terrain. Rapidash wasn't used to carrying two full-grown women so she needed breaks rather often. We ran out of food on Sunday, and we were in the middle of nowhere, so we had to ride the rest of the way on empty stomachs. Finally though, Wednesday morning, probably around 5:00am, we arrived at the address listed on the pamphlet. We dismounted and took the belongings we had left out of the saddlebags. Poor Rapidash was wheezing from having ridden all night long. I held out her pokeball. "Return, Rapidash. You did great; you've earned a long rest." The familiar red beam shot out from the pokeball and Rapidash disappeared.

I reattached the ball to my hip and patted it gently. When I glanced over at Jessee however, she was staring up at our destination. "This doesn't look right…" She said uncertainly. Reaching her fingers through the holes in the tall fence that surrounded the short squatty buildings in the distance. She looked up at the barbed wire lining the top of the fence. "This looks more like a prison than a scientific organization."

"Maybe its just to keep people away from their expensive instruments, or to ward off hungry feral pokemon…" I offered.

Jessee shook her head and pointed up at the rows of barbed wire. "That wire is to keep things in—not to keep anything out." Sure enough the posts suspending the sharp jagged metal strands faced inward toward the rows of drab buildings.

All of a sudden I was starting to feel a few misgivings too. "I…I don't know, Jessee. Right now this is everything we have…Do you think we should just call it all off…?"

Jessee shook her head. "We don't have any other options right now. Maybe I'm just overreacting. I'm sure there's a good explanation for everything. And if there is really something wrong with this place we'll just quit."

I nodded. "Alright Jessee. We'll give it a shot."

Suddenly there was a deafening grinding sound. Instinctively my hand flew to the pokeball on my belt, but I relaxed once I saw that it was the large rolling gate pulling open. A woman with a straight black uniform and hat was approaching us, she was accompanied by a tall stocky man with an—arguably silly looking—purple mohawk. Pikachu tensed on my shoulders but I reached up with my free hand. "It's ok, Pikachu. Relax."

"Welcome, welcome welcome! You must be our new recruits, am I right?"

"Yes, ma'am," I spoke up, before Jessee could say anything. My voice came out in a much deeper tone than I was expecting, and it startled myself a little. "I'm Jess, and she's Jessee."

"Great!" The woman chirped in a tone a little too happy—it put me off. "This is Viper. He will be training you during the duration of your stay."

"Training? Why do we need training? I thought you were looking for EXPERIENCED pokemon trainers—aren't we trained enough already?" Jessee spat. I shot her a glare willing her to shut up, but the woman didn't seem miffed at all. She only laughed.

"Oh, of course. But we sometimes might put you on some missions that require some special dexterity. This is just to make sure you have the endurance to perform them. Also some team building exercises and things of that nature." She turned to face Viper, but still addressed us. "Viper will show you to your bunks now and give you the rundown of what you can expect come morning." She walked away and we were left alone with this large and frightening looking man.

"Alright, recruits," He called in a booming voice that made Jessee, Pikachu, and me all jump. "Follow me and I'll get you started." He turned around and started walking toward the squatty buildings in the distance. Jessee and I followed at a distance behind. The grinding sounded again and made me jump. I turned to see the gate slammed shut. I had to bite my cheek a little to quell the sudden panic that welled up in me. There was no escape now. We were stuck here.

Maybe this was all a big mistake…

Pikachu had to bring me back to myself by tapping on my head, "Pika Pi!" He pointed to where Viper and Jessee were already a few yards ahead, and I had to run in order to catch up with them.


	18. Chapter 18

Viper led us to a large adobe style building. He led us inside and past the open rooms full of bunks all with women wearing the same dark red jumpsuits with a bright red R on the front. Pikachu seemed to get really nervous now and shrunk back underneath my hair. I didn't have time to ask him what was wrong though because Viper suddenly stopped in front of a bunk, each bed holding a red jumpsuit like the ones we had seen.

"Change into these and follow the other trainees down to the mess hall. After breakfast I'll meet you for the orientation.

As he left, Jessee and I looked at each other nervously. "What do you make of this, Jess?" Jessee whispered.

"I don't know. Pikachu is really freaked out though…" I replied. I could feel my little yellow pokemon quivering against the nape of my neck.

"This whole place is giving me weird vibes…" Jessee whispered. "What are we going to do if we can't get out? This seems almost like the military now!"

"Don't worry about it Jessee. I'll be looking for something. We'll do our best and if things really start getting wrong, we'll make a break for it."

Jessee nodded and picked up her jumpsuit. "Alright. Let's hope."

After we'd changed into our jumpsuits, I had Pikachu hide under the bed with the rest of our clothes and belongings and Jessee and I made our way to the mess hall. It was here that we discovered that this operation was much bigger than we had originally thought. We were wearing red jumpsuits, but apparently that was only the color of our barracks. In the mess hall there were also Blue and Yellow jumpsuits, and about 50 people of each gender in each. Not including the trainers, workers and other people who I'm not exactly sure what they did. But the room was packed.

Jessee and I squeezed our way to the back of the line and when we finally got up to the counter was rewarded with a big splat of mushy something or other. I bit my lip trying to keep my appetite enough to force the grey….whatever it was down my throat as Jessee and I moved to an empty spot to sit down. The din in the hall was deafening, and as I sat there forcing the goop down and struggling to keep it there, I couldn't help but wish for the peaceful quietness of our ranch and the delicious home cooked meals my mother used to make way back when….Before the divorce…when everything was still perfect…

It couldn't have been more that ten minutes after Jessee and I sat down that Viper came into the mess hall and blew a shrill whistle that shut the whole hall up instantly. "Listen up!" He barked into the silent room. "All new recruits you are to come with me for orientation and basic training! Now!" A handful, about twenty or thirty people including Jessee and me, stood up and followed him silently out of the dining hall.

Viper took us to a dusty track field full of obstacles. He lined us up and began his introduction. "My name is Viper, I will be your drill sergeant through the duration of your training. But you will call me Sgt. Viper. If I ever hear you NOT call me that, you will be instantly punished, and trust me, you don't want to go through that. I have trained every one of the new recruits for almost as long as there has been a Team Rocket. If you succeed through my program there is no doubt that you will be a wonderful member to the team."

He gestured to the track field. "Your first task is an endurance test. You need to go through this obstacle course in two minutes or less. If you fail you will be escorted out and not allowed to return. However this will be the only time during training where you will be allowed to leave unscathed."

Those words stopped my heart. What did he mean unscathed?! I could swear he was staring dead at me and I strained to keep my face emotionless as I glanced toward Jessee one or two people away from me. Her eyes were trained toward me too, and I could catch a minute twitch of her eyebrow. She was thinking the same thing I was.

Jessee went through the course before me, and she sailed through it with ease. I knew she would. Climbing ropes, crawling under wire, jumping hurdles, she was built for this kind of thing! She finished the course in just a minute. The guy that came after her though, not so lucky. After the buzzer rang for the two minute mark , two people in all black each with a black hat and a bright red R on their chest appeared and escorted him away without saying a word. I was just busy trying to figure out what our course of action would be when it was my turn. I finished just as easily as Jessee and caught her wink at me when Sgt. Viper called out my time: One minute and two seconds.

After all the trainees had gone through and Viper had weeded out the weaklings, there were only about eighteen of us left. "Very good." Viper said, addressing us as he made a number of notes on his small clipboard. "Now that you have all passed the initiation course, your real training will begin. Remember you're time, because you will be expected to improve that by at least 30 seconds by the time you become full fledged agents."

I gritted my teeth. What did he mean agent. We were supposed to be pokemon trainers but the way he kept talking was sounding more like spies…

Viper took us to a small classroom like area where he seated us all down and began to go over the history of Team Rocket. It was started by a man named Giovanni, he was crediting for funding many of the pokemon scientific discoveries. Though he also owned some other properties, the popular Pokemon Land, some gyms, basically this guy seemed to run everything behind the scenes, and it was kind of bizarre that I'd never heard of him before…

After Viper had finished up with his talk, we were released to the mess hall for lunch. After receiving a lump of something that I don't even want to know what it was, Jessee and I sat down at a table away from where everyone else was and lowered our voices.

"What do you think, Jessee?"

"This place is weird…And I don't completely buy that Giovani guy. I mean, neither of us have ever heard of him before, how can he literally be running everything."

"I agree…it's off…but I've been kinda scouting out a way out and it's not going to be as easy as I thought. There's cameras and workers literally everywhere." I paused. "Now if you had purposefully slowed down a little during the obstacle course we could have been ESCORTED out, but you had to show off…"

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking about that." Jessee snapped back. "I was just worried about getting through it. But we'll come up with something else…"

"Well, if it isn't Crazy Jessee and Mommy Jess."

That voice made my blood run cold. I turned slowly behind me to see her: Orange-blond hair pulled into two pig-tails, small angled eyes, pointy nose, triangular earrings dangling from her earlobes and wearing a jumpsuit like ours but hers being blue. She scoffed a little and smirked down at us. "Didn't think I'd ever see you two losers here."

Jessee was rigid. "Well, great to see you too, Cassidy…" She growled. "Never thought I'd see you again…"

"Well you wouldn't think I'd skip out on the chance to get in on the greatest crime organization on the planet do you?" Cassidy asked, squeezing herself between us and forcing Jessee and I to move a couple inches away to avoid being shoulder to shoulder with her.

Jessee and Cassidy knew each other intimately. They were in the same grade at school and had actually been best friends in elementary and part of middle school. I didn't consider myself friends with her necessarily during any of this time, there was something about her that I just could never stand, but because Jessee and I were so close in age, sometimes I would hang out with both of them. Around fifth or sixth grade though, Cassidy's true colors had started to appear. She got to be demanding, rude, and just overall a jerk to be around. My parents finally had enough and my dad banned her from ever coming over again after we caught her trying to steal one of our newborn ponyta from the herd. We hadn't seen her again, and I could never have been more relieved….until now.

"So what brings you goody-two-shoes here?" Cassidy asked with a flick of her hair. Her pigtail whacked me in the face. The smell of her strawberry shampoo was overpowering. As if I wasn't put off enough by her being here…

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?" Jessee asked.

"No, actually, I don't get my partner announced until today." She replied smugly, leaning an elbow on the table. "So again, what great change in the stars happened that made you two show up on Team Rocket's doorstep?"

"What do you care?" I snapped."This has nothing to do with you."

"Ouch, geez, just trying to catch up with my old friend." Cassidy huffed. "Well, I can see when I'm not wanted." She stood up. "I'll see you two losers at training. I'll have you know that I set the new Team Rocket record, let's see you try and beat that." She scoffed, and with a swish of her hair she flounced away.

I let the burning frustration in my cheeks subside and leaned in toward Jessee. "Don't worry, we won't have to be here for much longer. I think I have an idea of how to get out of here—"

"Oh we can't leave now." Jessee exclaimed. "Now that Cassidy is here, I'm not going to let her just walk all over me like that; we are going to stay and I am going to beat her sorry face."

What did I expect…Jessee is too competitive for her own good…


	19. Chapter 19

In the weeks that followed, we were drilled extensively. Jessee excelled at all of it; she ate, breathed, and slept her training. Her competitive nature gave her a fire that couldn't be quelled except through success. I on the other hand, while not trying to fail by any means, was simply trying to keep us alive, so while Jessee would wake up at the crack of dawn so she could get an extra few hours at the gym before breakfast, I was staying up late into the night reading up on our new boss and studying the schematics of this compound we were now trapped in. Trying to keep Pikachu hidden was a whole challenge in itself as well.

Nine weeks after we came to this place, Viper stood up in front of our squadron. "It's been over two months now, Recruits," he said. "You are now finished with your basic training, it is now time to start your field training. It is at this point that you will be assigned a partner. This will be your partner for the entirety of your employment here with Team Rocket, so it is imperative that you and your partner get along and learn to work together." Jessee and I managed to exchange quick glances as Viper continued, saying that we had all been given a time to meet with him in his office where he would assign us each to a partner in confidence. "Be sure to check what time you're meeting is, and don't be late for it. Dismissed." Viper's booming voice came over the training field. The entire squadron gave a uniform salute, then we turned and marched off in unison.

The meeting times were all assigned in alphabetical order by last name. But since Jessee's and my first and last names were exactly the same, it was a little challenging. However, I got to go first because I guess my middle name comes first. The next morning at 9:00am sharp, I walked into Viper's office and stood in front of his desk. It was a clean but unimpressive room. A couple of plaques, a few poke-balls, and a certificate of excellence adorned the walls and shelves, but other than that it was unexciting. Viper sat writing things on a large grid in front of him and tapping his pen against the table for a long time before acknowledging me. Finally he pulled a piece of paper out of a folder and slid it across the desk toward me. He explained as I stepped forward to pick it up. "This will be your first partner set. Each cadet is assigned to one human and one pokemon partner. These pokemon are different than any pokemon you might carry with you for fighting in battles. They are specifically trained for use in multiple types of scenarios, as well as trained to stay out of a poke-ball, so they will be much more useful to you than you're fighting pokemon. Should something happen, say you and your partners cannot work well together, you might be able to opt to be put up on the roster for a new partner. However I strongly would advise against doing this, as, should YOU prove to be a problem, we will not hesitate to terminate you. Is that understood?"

Something about how he said the word terminate made chills run up my spine, but I took a quick inhale and affirmed, "Yes, sir." I picked up the paper to see the picture of the person that was supposed to be my partner, but was mortified to see that it wasn't my sister. Instead, it was some kid with a long chin and seafoam green hair. I recognized him. He was that super lanky and really annoying kid that stood near the back of formation and was always trying to crack jokes and would not SHUT UP…! HE was supposed to be my PARTNER?!

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I believe there has been some sort of mistake." I stated, sliding the picture back toward the drill sergeant. Viper raised an eyebrow at me, folding his hands in slight irritation. "And what might that be…" He asked.

"My sister and I should be partnered together," I explained. "We work well as a team, and we are family, so we should stick together."

"We have a policy against pairing siblings with one another." Viper said calmly, going back to his paperwork.

"Why?" I snapped. "You yourself said that partners have to have a family-like connection with each other, as well as impeccable teamwork. What displays those qualities more than ACTUAL family?!"

"Putting family members in teams together creates conflict of interest." Viper shot back. "If I were to put you and your sister on the same team, who is to say if one of you got in trouble, the other wouldn't put Team Rocket's confidential hard work on the line to save them."

I slammed my fists against the desk, getting so close to Viper now, I could smell the coffee on his breath. "I demand that you put my sister and I together on a team, or there shall be some dire consequences." I growled.

"There will BE some DIRE CONSEQUENCES if you do not get out of my office right now, and meet up with your partners to begin team training exercises! Viper yelled back, standing up so fast his chair fell backward. "You are DISMISSED, Miss Jessica Newken!"

I gritted my teeth and snatched up the paper, crumpling the middle in my fist, as I stalked out of the room and down to the training hall to meet up with this loser.

I plopped my butt down on one of the aluminum benches surrounding the training field. I then pried the crumpled paper from my own fist, and smoothed it out to get a better look at it. This dork's name was Damian Willis, but honestly, who gives a care. Damian Willis…what a stupid name…I looked next to his image to what would be our partner Pokemon. "Please at least be something cool…!" I begged. "Something to make up for this major disappointment in a partner….!" I dared to open my eyes and look at the picture. Nope. Just some generic looking Machop. I growled. Fighting types were in no way my cup of tea… Oh, well. At least it would be strong enough, I guess…

About this time, Jessee came stomping onto the field as well. She stalked over to me and plopped down right next to me on the bench. "Who does he think he is…?" She complained. "Pairing me up with…THIS Loser…!" She clenched her piece of paper showing her partners in her hands.

"Tell me about it…" I replied, looking back down at my own paper.

"Clearly, the two of us are the only sensible choice for each other!" Jessee raged on. "What makes him think he can just split us up like that! What benefit is there in it…?!" I opened my mouth to reply, but she quickly held up her hand, "Don't. I don't even care…" She stared down at the paper in her hands for a while longer. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not just going lie down and take this. If someone wants to be paired up with me, they're going to have to go through quite a bit of trouble to get it."

"I don't really know if that's a good idea, Jessee…" I warned. "The way Drill Sergeant Viper was talking, if we were to prove to be too difficult to pair, there would be 'consequences'."

"Well, I'm not just going to sit around and be force to work with some lame-o who I don't even know or care about!" Jessee snapped back. "And if there is even a chance that we could manipulate this system to our will, you better believe I'm going to take that opportunity." She stood up. "Well, guess I've got to find this twerp and see if he really is as dumb as he looks. I'll see you tonight." With a final unenthusiastic wave, she walked away and I was again left alone. Not for long though, as I soon heard the familiar voice come up behind me. "So. You're gonna be my partner huh?"

I turned to see this Damian guy, in all his nerdtastic glory stretching and obviously trying to look tough and impressive. He flexed his biceps, creating a slight bulge if you had a magnifying glass. "Now don't be too intimidated," He said in his falsetto-laced voice. "I know I'm a sight to behold, but if you ask nicely, I'll let you feel them."

I rolled my eyes and let my head fall into my hand. This was going to be a long couple weeks….


	20. Chapter 20

Over the next few weeks I was unbelievably impressed to see Jessee's plan actually working. Every few days we would have some sort of mission simulation or assignment and almost every time she was able to leave her teammates in the dust. And every time this happened, she somehow managed to woo Viper into assigning her a new partner. She had the charisma, I could give her that…! I was so impressed with her plan that I started to implement it myself. I was able to ditch Damian and the Machop in a couple days, (which, honestly, was not hard at all) and got assigned to a new partner, whom I also got rid of." Finally, after four weeks and about 10 or so partners on Jessee's part, Viper called us into his office. With a look of extreme exasperation, he told us, "I have spoken to the Head about your…'concerns,' and we decided that we would slightly bend the rules to allow you two to be on the same team, IF you agreed to follow a few stipulations."

I leaned my hands against his desk. "And what might those stipulations be, Sir?"

"First, Jess, you will be allowed to be on the same team as Jessee, but upon graduation you will be classified as a grunt. Meaning, you will be considered in the books as a solo unit, and should you be called away from your sister on an assignment, you HAVE to go."

"And what is second?" Jessee prodded.

"Second is, that you, Jessee, will still need to acquire a partner who is NOT related to you. Jess will be allowed to travel with you and help, be a sort of off-the-books partner, if you will, but you will still be required to have a non-family human partner, and one pokemon partner. Those are the stipulations. Take them, or leave them." Viper finished, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

Jessee and I were silent only long enough for us to glance at each other. "It's a deal." I replied.

"Fine." Viper said, sighing with exasperation as he sat up and wrote something on a form in front of him. "In that case, Jessee, you will have one last chance to find a partner, and if this one doesn't work out you will both be discharged. Is that clear."

"Yes, Sir." Jessee and I replied in unison.

"Good. Go back to your dorms, and I'll see who I can scrounge up to be your partner. You are dismissed."

Jessee and I stood on the balcony in front of our barracks, overlooking the rest of the camp. The sun was just setting now, casting everything in a heavy shadow and giving the world an orange glow. Jessee turned to me. "Jess, do you think we did the right thing…?"

"What, about taking Sgt. Viper's offer? Yes, I have no doubt about it." I turned to her. "Why? Are you starting to have misgivings?"

"It's not that, it's more along the lines of, what if they make our lives miserable, or give us the absolute worst partner possible, or if they force you to go on solo missions all the time just so that you won't ever be around…"

I scoffed. "I"m sure that won't happen. It'll be fine. They'll probably make me go on solo missions a few times here or there, but I doubt it'll be very often, or for very long. And so what if our partner sucks. We can take him." I gently shoved Jessee's shoulder with my fist. She gave me a small smile, but then went back to staring at the sunset.

"Jessee." The voice behind us made us both jump. We both turned to find Viper standing behind us. He addressed my sister again. "You are to grab your gear and report to the training hall for team building exercises."

"You mean you found me a new partner?" Jessee asked with a hint of both excitement and trepidation in her voice.

"Yes, and I assure you it wasn't easy." Viper replied. "Allow me to introduce you to your partner, James." He gestured to a figure leaning against the corner of the barracks, still hidden by the heavy shadows.

My heart stopped. James was the name of our new partner? How were we supposed to work with someone with the same name as our missing brother…the missing brother that by now we had practically failed! That would just be a constant reminder of the family we had already lost…!

Jessee's eyebrows lowered, her jaw tightening in anger. "Listen, 'James,' I just hope you're good, because we're not going to carry you." She snapped.

The figure chuckled. "No one's carried me since my mama."

Jessee crossed her arms. "Funny and confident…? Let's just hope you can back it up, little guy."

"You'll have to excuse Jessee," Viper offered, "She has a history of not getting along with her partners.

"Then perhaps she just hasn't found the right one yet," The figure replied, pushing himself off the wall and taking a step forward into the light. He tossed his silky blue hair, a single strand falling again into his emerald green eyes, the setting sun catching the small flakes of teal in them.

Jessee caught her breath. My whole body went numb. I had to grab hold of the railing to keep from falling to the ground. Could this be real? The chances had been so infinitesimal I hadn't even bothered to add them into the realm of possibility. Nothing, in any way, had prepared me for this.

"You two are to collect your gear and be in the training hall in 10 minutes. Jess, while they are training you are to pack your and your sister's things. You are moving into the partnered barracks. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Y-yes, Sir," I managed to choke out.

Viper turned and left. As soon as we thought he was out of earshot, Jessee and I both ran to James and fell on him, hugging him so tightly he could hardly breathe, and sobbing almost uncontrollably.

"What are you doing here?!" Jessee hissed, pulling away long enough to choke a breath and wipe her eyes. "How did you get away from Dad and that witch?"

"I never stopped planning a way to escape." James replied. "After I managed to slip out, I found a recruitment poster and saw it as a way to stay hidden, as well as possibly find you two. Just the other day I happened to catch a glimpse of you're picture on Viper's clipboard so I volunteered to be your partner."

"B-but how?" I asked. "The deal was that the person they chose to be our partner couldn't be related to us in any way."

James pressed his index finger to his lips, lowering his voice to hardly over a whisper. "They don't know. When he asked about the same last name, I lied and said Newken was a common last name around where we're from."

I took a long breath, biting the inside of my cheek. "So we're going to have to play this out…" Not that I wasn't happy to have my brother back, but lying was not my strongest quality. We **were** raised to have morals…

"Not a problem." Jessee said, confidently. "Once we get through all of this and they make us permanent partners on paper, there won't be anything to worry about anyway." She stood up, reaching down to help James up with her. "Come on, we have to get to the training hall before Viper starts to suspect something is up."

James stood, and I followed. While they were going to be going through extensive partner training, what was I going to be doing? What did being an "Grunt" even entail? "You two get going; I'll get us situated in our new barracks."

We parted ways, and I headed off to the Red Team bunks to gather our things.

When I got to our bunk I was relieved to find it empty. I leaned down underneath the bed and whispered. "Pikachu, it's clear to come out now."

I saw two long ears poke out from where he'd been hiding between my saddlebags and a small pile of clothes. He poked his head up. "Pi?" He sniffed the air for a second, and satisfied at not smelling anyone else in the room, he leapt into my arms, snuggling happily. "Pika chaaaaa!"

"Guess what, Buddy," I said, "We're moving on up. We get our own private room now. Soon I think we're going to be leaving this place in the dust!"

"Pika?" Pikachu chimed wistfully.

I nodded. "But we still have to hide you for just a little while longer, so just put up with it a little more, and then you can be out and about again like the good old days." I set Pikachu on the ground and pulled out my and Jessee's things from under the bed, opening my saddle-bags and arranging our clothes and things into them in such a way. Finally I turned back to Pikachu. "Alright, see if that's comfortable."

Pikachu nodded and jumped into the pack in a single bound, nuzzling down into the bed of clothing, turning and adjusting himself. Finally he poked his head up just slightly. "Pi!"

"Sounds good to me." I closed the flap over his head, leaving just the tiny tip of his nose sticking out for fresh air. I then hoisted the bag over my shoulder, keeping the pack with Pikachu close to my chest so no one would notice his tiny black nose. Then, together, we strode right out of those boring barracks and straight to the private, partnered barracks on the other side of the establishment.


	21. Chapter 21

Over the next few days, Jessee and James spent most of their days doing team training, while I was taken by another trainer for solo training—which mostly consisted of a lot of endurance and strength, as well as following orders to the letter. After almost a week of this, to my surprise, I was called with Jessee and James to the training hall. When we had all gotten there, Viper took a moment, cleared his throat, then said, "As you know, the teams here typically consist of two humans and a specially trained pokemon. But as you all know, due to the…uniqueness…of your situation, you do not have a pokemon assigned to you yet. We are hoping to change that today." He paused again, then gestured to his left. "Allow me to introduce you to, Meowth, the newest member of your team."

I was confused, as my eyes shifted from our drill sergeant to the brown and tawny cat-like pokemon standing next to him. I had always just assumed that Pikachu would be our partner. I was about to interject, when I remembered, Pikachu was kept in hiding. They didn't know he was there. I closed my mouth, as the pokemon in front of me grinned widely. "Now don't be intimidated er nothin'." He said, his rough voice carrying a strong inner-city accent. "I wants you'z ta treat me like ano'der one-a-da-gang!"

Jessee, James and I looked at each other confusedly for a moment. "Something seems odd about that pokemon…" I whispered.

"Yeah…I know…" James replied.

Suddenly, Jessee's eyes bugged out. "Wait, it talks…?!"

James and I took a startle response as the Meowth continued, "Not only dat, but I'm'a real good conversationalist." He laughed hysterically, a sound which made chills run down my spine. The noise was something of a mix between the normal meowing sound a meowth makes, and a looney bin. I guess this was our payment for all three of us being on the same team. Almost not worth it. Almost.

Viper went on, "Jessee, James, you are to meet the other trainees in the classroom for your next assignment. Jess, you are going to meet with your instructor in Lab A. Dismissed."

Jessee and James turned and, along with our new partner, headed off to the classroom where we had spent the bulk of basic training. I tried to slip them a reassuring smile as I headed off toward the laboratories, located near the administration building toward the back of the compound.

I came up on the laboratory complex, a collection of three buildings all connected only by awnings which blocked out the weather between one side door to the next. I entered the center building, the largest one, which was labeled with a large boldfaced A. Inside the big glass-paneled doors sat a spacious lobby area with a fancy wooden desk near the back. I walked up to the receptionist working there, a petite dainty woman in a navy blue suit, and she smiled and said, "Welcome: do you have an appointment?"

"I was sent here by Drill Sergeant Viper; he said I had to meet with an instructor here."

"Ah, yes! That would be Professor Conifer." She said, never breaking her smile. She opened her desk and pulled out a clipboard and a thin lanyard with a RFID key card hanging on it. "Please fill out your personal information here—this is just so I can issue you a temporary pass—and I'll call down the professor for you."

I thanked her and sat down in one of the many large geometric chairs lining the lobby. As I filled out all my basic information—name, birthdate, all that—I got to thinking: what exactly was it that I would be doing here? I hadn't ever seen any other recruits told they would be working in the lab. Heck, I'd never even seen any other recruits even come this way! The laboratories and administration buildings didn't look anything like the rest of the compound. They were much nicer, much neater, with big front windows and expansive lobby areas where the rest of the compound was made up of squatty building made of ugly orange-brown clay bricks with windows barely wide enough to stick a clenched fist through. Why such a drastic difference in aesthetic from one part of the compound to the next?

I finished filling out the forms and signing an unprecedented number of documents and confidentiality agreements, then stood and headed back to the desk. As I handed the forms over the counter to the receptionist, the thick double doors on the left side of the room burst open and out walked a short slender woman with a dark complexion and long forest green hair tied messily up on her head into the remnants of a bun. She wore thin wireframe glasses low on her nose and a long lab coat over a delicate white blouse and teal pleaded skirt. Her tall strap heels clicked loudly as she walked and without them I probably would have been a good foot taller than her.

The woman stopped walking for a moment when she entered the room and looked up from the clipboard she was holding. When she spotted me, she quickly turned and walked over. "Ah, you must be Jessica Newken, am I correct?"

"Yes, Ma'am." I replied dutifully.

The woman shook my hand, her grip surprisingly strong for such a small woman. "I'm Professor Conifer. I shall be your special assignment trainer for the next few weeks." She took a step back and looked me up and down. "You are quite a bit taller than Sergeant Viper originally said. No matter; we shall simply stop by the uniform room on the way to the laboratory." She pulled out a folded white coat she was holding from under her clipboard and handed it to the receptionist. "See that this is put away."

The receptionist nodded, and Professor Conifer turned and gestured for me to follow her. She scanned in to the RFID door panel and held the door open for me to follow. I did so and she closed the door behind me insuring that it locked. She then led me down a hallway and into a small room lined with racks of lab coats and various types of PPE. She scanned the racks for a moment, once in a while pulling down coats of varying lengths before finally handing one to me. "Here, put this on."

I obeyed. The jumpsuit made the sleeves a bit snug and uncomfortable, but Professor Conifer seemed satisfied anyway. "There, that should fit you much better. From this point on, be sure to wear this every time you come in." I nodded in understanding. She continued as she went out and turned off the light. "Hang your key card around your neck—you're going to be needing it a lot. And god-forbid if you loose it…" Again I obeyed, and hung the thin lanyard I had gotten from the receptionist around my neck as I followed Professor Conifer out of the room.

"Um…excuse me Professor Conifer," I asked as she led me again down the long hall and past many closed rooms. "But, what exactly am I doing here…?"

"Viper tells me you had studied pokemon medicine." Conifer replied without even turning around. "You were chosen for a special assignment that should better make use of your skills and experience."

"Well, yes, I went to Pokemon Nursing school, but for that matter so did my sister." I replied. "We were both some of the best in our class, but why was I chosen and she wasn't?"

"Only grunts can be trained in laboratory work." Conifer explained. "Your sister is classified as a partnered field agent." She glanced back at me. "Did you read all of the confidentiality agreements that you signed?"

"Yes," I lied.

"Well, then you know that the information held here is top secret, and working with a partner puts that confidentiality at risk." Conifer continued turning back to the hallway in front of her. "Grunts, however, work alone, and therefore are less likely to spill the beans—as it were—about our scientific work, discoveries, and clientele." She stopped outside a large pair of double doors, and handed me a pair of protective glasses she pulled from a box bolted on the wall. "Put these on."

I obeyed, sliding the thick plastic goggles on over my prescription lenses. Professor Conifer pulled out a pair of safety glasses from her lab coat pocket and did the same. Then she scanned her badge, made sure I did as well, and escorted me into the laboratory.


	22. Chapter 22

Days passed and my training with Professor Conifer continued. I wasn't doing any real work yet, she was still going over the chemistry, statistics, and biology aspects with me, but I was ok with math and science in school so it wasn't all that difficult. Plus my time in nursing school had given me an edge on the biology aspect. Professor Conifer had given me some textbooks as well as the old notes from the laboratory archive to study and familiarize myself with in my off time. Meanwhile, Jessee and James and the new Pokemon partner Meowth spent every night doing physical agility training and team building, so they were out of the dorm most of the time, only there to sleep. Now it was the weekend and they were being shipped out to some remote place for some sort of test mission, so I would have the entire dorm to myself.

I had the weekend off from lessons with Professor Conifer, so she had taxed me with studying a pile of algorithm notes and notating what was incorrect with them and how to correct any errors. I sat at the desk mulling over these notes and diagrams scribbled messily on the yellowing paper marking my own corrections and notes in my own notebook to show to the professor on Monday. Pikachu by this point had grown used to me sitting long hours, papers piled high around me, until I inevitably passed out on my desk, and now he sat up in front of me—bless his heart—trying to help in any way he could, but only really ended up sitting there watching me scribble fervently on my notes.

I paused for only a moment and stretched. My movement made Pikachu pick up his head and perk his ears. "Pi?"

"Still got a lot of work to do, Bud." I replied with a quiet chuckle. "What time is it…?" I glanced over at the clock sitting on the table. "6:25…Don't worry, just let me finish up with this diagram and then I'll go down and get us something to eat."

"Pika cha!" Pikachu chirped happily in agreement.

I gave him a little smile and settled back down into my work. Not five seconds later the door flung open with a bang. "JESS!" My sister exclaimed rushing into the room in a panic.

I stood up hurriedly, knocking many of the notes and papers onto the floor. "Jessee! What's the matter."

Jessee didn't answer my question, but grabbed my arms and started pulling me toward the door. She was hyperventilating and just kept saying my name over and over, "Jess! Jess!"

"Jessee!" I ordered firmly, grabbing her by her jumpsuit sleeves and settling my feet onto the ground, trying to get her attention. "Breathe; tell me what's wrong!"

Jessee stopped tugging my arms for only a moment to look at me with panic-stricken eyes. "James is hurt!"

I don't even remember running all the way to the infirmary. As far as I'm concerned, I teleported from my dorm room to where a number of doctors and nurses were hurriedly wheeling my brother toward the operating room yelling things that in my mental state I could neither hear nor understand.

"James…!" I choked out with a strained voice I struggled to shove my way through the crowd in order to get to my baby brother.

One of the nurses grabbed me and pushed me back. "Miss, you need to stay back!" She said in a voice that was sweet but firm. With her movement I did manage to get a glimpse of him though—sopping wet, bruised almost black, deep lacerations marring his delicate ivory skin, and I could see his chest struggling to rise and fall with every painful breath he took. He opened his eyes and glanced at me just as they were pushing him through the doors into another corridor. He struggled a weak smile and moved a couple of his fingers in a sort of wave before the large swinging doors slammed shut.

My heart stopped, my eyes instantly welling with tears. I couldn't bare to see my siblings in pain, and this…Suddenly I was afraid I was going to lose him again—for good this time…

I turned around to see Jessee standing behind me, gripping hard the sides of her uniform. I walked over and gripped her shoulders firmly. "You need to tell me what happened."

Jessee swallowed hard, eyes wide with fear, "But, Jess, I can't…the confidentiality—"

"I don't care about that!" I interrupted her, clenching the sleeves of her jumpsuit. "You need to tell me what happened to him! We're technically on the same team, anyway."

Jessee took a hard breath and began quietly. "We had a mission…to get from point A to point B in a single 24 hour period. Almost directly across from the finish line there was a bridge, but it was old and rotten…I made it across just fine…I tried to make sure it was safe…but James…he tried to help Meowth across and it collapsed…He fell into the rapids down below. We found him a mile downstream and that's when I called in for help…"

Jessee started shaking. My grip on her uniform softened and I pulled her into a hug. "It's not your fault, Jessee. These things happen; you did everything you could…"

"We should have gone a different way…" Jessee whispered. "We didn't have to be the first ones at the finish line, we could have found another way around…I knew it wasn't safe, I should have charted a different path…."

Suddenly I thought of something. "Wait…Where is Meowth…?" I asked pushing away from her.

Jessee's eyes drifted up past me and she gestured her head toward another funneling hallway. I looked up and could see the tawny cat Pokemon waddling toward us carrying a large tray piled high with food. He had a big dopey grin on his face, a complete departure from the rest of us—like what had just happened to his teammate had no effect on him.

It may sound like I don't like meowths. That's not true. I don't have any problem with them. I am actually quite fond of them and their evolved form Persian. We even used to have a couple that lived in the barn when I was really young. I however DID NOT like THAT meowth! His voice grated on me, his commentary annoyed me, and the fact that he always walked around on two legs kind of creeped me out. And now his blatant disregard for the welfare of his teammate—my brother, whom I probably cared about more than anyone else in the world—was the final straw.

I walked over to the pokemon, who seemed blissfully unaware as he struggled to place his humongous tray of food on a table slightly out of his reach. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him up to my face, knocking some of the food from his now askew tray onto the clean tiled floor.

"You just do not care, do you." I growled at the now cowering pokemon.

Meowth's ears drooped a little under my glare. "W-what da'ya mean, Jess…?"

I snarled, giving the pokemon a shake. "You know what I'm talking about, you inconsiderate, useless furball! Your teammate gets seriously injured and you don't so much as bat an eye; you just take advantage of the situation and go get a free dinner!"

Meowth was now curled up cowering under his front paws, but he suddenly peeked out, "Oh, is dat what dis is about?" He straightened out giving me one of his big annoying grins. "Eh, Jimmy'll be jist fine! Sure, he got banged up a bit, but you'll see, he'll come walkin' outta der any—"

"For James Newken?"

I turned around to see a doctor with thick black hair and a bushy mustache standing in the doorway. I dropped Meowth, who fell onto his tail, and hurried over along with Jessee. "Yes, he's with us."

"How is he? Is he going to be alright?" Jessee asked frantically.

The doctor cleared his throat and adjusted his thick glasses. "Well, it's not good…" He said, lowering his voice gently. He pushed the swinging door back for us to follow him in. "Come with me please."

Jessee, Meowth, and I followed him down the dimmed hallway to a large window. Inside I could see my brother lying on a table under a multitude of bright lights, hooked up to a bunch of machines while doctors all around him were working to stop the bleeding and reset bones. My breath caught in my throat to see him like this.

"Honestly, he's lucky to be alive." The doctor continued. "He has fractures in both his fibula and ulna, multiple broken ribs, a concussion and mild internal bleeding. Then obviously the cuts and bruises from his trek down the river." The doctor handed me a stapled pack of papers listing James' injuries in detail. "When he came in he mumbled something about being back in action, but I don't foresee that happening any time soon. I predict he'll need at least two months of strict bed rest before he can be up and around, and even more before he can go back to performing missions."

"Oh poor James…" Jessee mumbled, never taking eyes off James lying completely still on that hard table.

"It's all my fault…I'm so sorry, Jessee…" Meowth replied suddenly bursting into sobs, surprisingly only now speaking for the first time.

I glanced over and was about to chastise Meowth for making a mockery of my family's pain, but noticed he didn't seem to be exaggerating. Real tears were sliding down his whiskers and he seemed genuinely upset. Maybe I'd been too harsh on him earlier; maybe he truly hadn't understood the severity of James's injuries. Jessee put a hand comfortingly on Meowth's shoulder and I turned my gaze back down to the medical report the doctor had given me.

"How long do you think it will be before he can come home?" I asked.

"As of now, I'd like to keep him here for at least a week." The doctor replied. "If he's doing well, I'll send an order for you two to take him home."

"Thank you, Doctor, for everything." I said with a little bow. Then I turned to Jessee and Meowth. "Come on, you two. There's nothing we can do for him here—let's go back home."

Jessee and Meowth silently nodded and I led them back out to the waiting room and back toward our dorm.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning was Monday. Jessee and Meowth had to still do training exercises, despite the fact that 1/3 of their team was down. I tried to push what had happened to my brother out of my mind, as I still had work to do with Professor Conifer. I gathered up all my notes and headed off to the laboratory.

"These are very well done." Professor Conifer told me after looking over all of my work. "Yes, I think you are ready to move on." She laid my notes down on the table and gestured for me to follow her over to the door. "Come with me."

I followed her through the hallways into a wing of the facility that said "Pokemon Housing." As we walked she told me, "You've shown an outstanding aptitude toward this work; it's time to move on to the next step: Working with the Pokemon." She led me down a corridor lined with large cages each containing a different pokemon. Each one had a small card tied onto the cage stating the pokemon's species, type, gender, size information, genetic statistics and the like.

I suddenly got a weird feeling when I saw a cage with a very small charmander, who's tail flame seemed to be unnaturally low. I bit my lip. "Professor Conifer…these pokemon **are** cared for, aren't they?"

"Hm? Oh, of course." Professor Conifer assured me, glancing at me through the corner of her glasses as she continued to walk. "These pokemon receive the best food and medical care anyone could ask for. However, you have to understand, this **is **a testing facility, so obviously there will sometimes be casualties…" We passed by a cage that was draped by a white cloth. My heart jumped into my throat, but she went on, "However, I can assure you, that we do our absolute best to be sure that no pokemon suffers. Sadly, we can't save them all—obviously you know that all that lives must come to an end at some point."

"Of…of course…." I choked out, trying to not let on that this sudden dark turn had taken me entirely by surprise. This revelation had me feeling dizzy and a little faint. Obviously I knew that all people and pokemon must pass on, but she just seemed so…passé about it…!

I was interrupted from my thoughts when there was a break and the seemingly endless rows of cages were traded in for a tall steel fence. Lying on the floor on a scant pile of straw was a ponyta.

I could not contain my giddiness. I momentarily lost all my professionalism and forgot my syncope and squealed like a young child. I dashed over to the fence and held out my hand toward the equine pokemon and clicked my tongue. The ponyta raised it's head; slowly it stood up and stepped toward me, reaching out with its nose and tickling my palm with its whiskers. "That's it…Oh, you're such a sweet baby, aren't you…!" I cooed, gently stroking its cheek with the back of my index finger.

"He seems to like you." Professor Conifer stated, stepping up next to me. "He doesn't typically come up to the other scientists—even if we call him."

I chuckled at the compliment, "Well, I did live on a rapidash ranch for most of my life, so I guess I kind of developed a knack for these pokemon." I looked back at the ponyta, who was now lipping the sleeve of my lab coat.

"Well, I'll be sure to let the others know that this ponyta particularly likes you, and that you are to be the main person to work with it." Professor Conifer replied turning and starting her way toward the double doors at the end of the hall. As she left, the ponyta suddenly snorted and turned away from me, walking around to face the corner of its containment, cocking its hind foot and dropping its head to the floor. Its beige coat was covered in pock-marks and scars, which didn't necessarily strike me as odd at first, until I noticed that its flaming mane and tail, like the charmander's earlier, seemed unnaturally docile and low, it's black hooves were cracked, and its eyes, which should normally be so wild and full of life, were dull and hardly glinted in the light at all.

"Professor Conifer…" I piped up as the professor started to push the door open. "This ponyta is sick."

"Hm?" Professor Conifer asked, letting the door close and coming back over to beside me. She pulled off the card tied to the bar of the fence and looked it over. "Mmm…No, it says that all of this ponyta's vital signs are normal…and it was just given an examination yesterday morning."

I shook my head. "I'm telling you, something is wrong with him. A ponyta at his age should be much more active. Its eyes should be bright and shiny. And its hooves should be as tough as diamonds—the fact that his are cracked at all is a sign of vitamin deficiency."

Professor Conifer thumbed through the ponyta's health and stat card again. "Mmm… All our medical staff say that this ponyta is perfectly healthy."

"Have them check him again." I pressed, more firmly. "Call Nurse Joy if you have to, but this pokemon is not well!"

"Jess, I understand your concern. Truly I do," Professor Conifer offered, laying a hand on my arm. "But I can assure you, this pokemon is doing just fine. Possibly just a little dreary from the medications we've been testing. I promise you, we keep these pokemon in perfect health." She paused, seeing her affirmations were not winning me over. "If it will make you feel better, I will talk to the medical staff and have them run another checkup."

This did not make me feel any better, because if the medical staff had missed something as obvious as cracked hooves, there was no way they could be competent at their job, but I was getting nowhere with this woman. I sighed. "Alright. Just so long as he gets looked at," I replied, silently hatching a plan to help this poor pokemon.

"Very good, now come along." Professor Conifer continued, ushering me away toward the door. "We have a lot of work to get to this morning."

I managed to cast one last look back toward the ponyta, who had it's eyes weakly open and was watching me. He closed them and expelled a sigh, which sent the little stalks of straw scattering about his feet. Then the door slammed shut behind me and I couldn't see him anymore.


	24. Chapter 24

That afternoon, after I was done with Professor Conifer, I stopped at the hospital to visit James before going home. The nurse let me into his room in the ICU. I could hardly see him under all the bandages. He was hooked up to a number of beeping machines, and he had an IV drip in his left hand feeding him pain killers, but he was awake. After the nurse closed the door, I pulled over a hard plastic chair and sat next to his bed. We were silent for a while; I just watched his heart monitor, the red line jumping with every beep, until James spoke with a strained voice, "Are Jessee and Meowth holding up ok?"

"You should be more worried about yourself." I replied. "I read over your comprehensive list of injuries—you took quite the beating." I paused again. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." James replied. "I think after a couple days more of rest I'll finally be able to get up and get back at it."

"No, I think you won't." I laughed. "I want you to be up and about, but I also want you to heal. And with your injuries, they're going to take some time."

"You don't understand, Jess…." James insisted. "If I'm not back in commission soon, they'll probably set her and me up with new partners and that'll be the end of it! I found you by a stroke of luck—it's not going to happen twice!"

I shook my head. "We'll worry about that as it comes. Jessee and Meowth are still here and doing the group training. They should be doing just fine without you for a while. You're here, you're safe, so you just focus on resting up."

"But Jess, I—"

"Shh." I hushed him, putting my finger to where I assumed his lips were on all the bandaging. "James Ivory Newken, I will not hear this nonsense. You will stay here and do as the doctors say; then, and only then, will you be back to work."

James was silent for some time. "Alright, Jess…"

"That's better." I replied, brushing some of the silky blue hair that poked out from his bandaging away from his eyes. We were silent again for a long time before I spoke again in a low voice. "Hey, James…I need you to do something for me…"

James' eye drifted over toward me. "What might that be, Jess…?"

"If possible-if you can't that's fine! But if you can…I need you to get your hands on some vitamin supplements…and/or extra medication."

James raised an eyebrow at me. "May I ask **why** you are asking me to do this?"

"There's something terribly wrong going on." I replied. "The pokemon that they are testing here…they don't look healthy…"

"Maybe that's why they are testing on them…" James said. "Because they are not healthy and they are trying to test new medications for them."

"No James it's not that…" I replied, gripping the sheets on his bed. "I…I can't explain it…you weren't there, you didn't see those poor pokemon…Professor Conifer said they were getting care, but…there's no way I can believe that…!"

James tried to roll over toward me. "Jess…Jess…Gah!" James suddenly cried and fell back as the monitors went crazy behind him.

"James! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…!"

James laid perfectly still for a few minutes trying to catch his breath. Finally the beeping started to slow. "Fine…" He said with a strained voice. "If it means that much to you, I will see if I can get some extra medication or something…"

I clasped his casted hand in mine. "Thank you, James, you're the best." I glanced up at the clock on the far wall. "It's getting late. I need to go get some food for Pikachu and head home. I'll try to stop by again tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok, Jess." James replied quietly. He seemed completely worn out. He lifted his casted hand to me in as best of a wave as he could muster as I left the room.


	25. Chapter 25

A couple days later, in the middle of the night, I snuck out to the laboratories. James had managed to con some extra vitamin supplements out of the nursing staff, which he had given to me and I now had hidden safely in my pocket. The laboratory was locked down, and though I had a key to get in, there was a verification system—the security staff would know someone had come in. So, instead, I climbed up one of the large floral trees near the building, snuck onto the roof, and silently slipped into one of the vents leading to the mezzanine. I found where the staff kept the pokemon food, and right nearby there was an emergency door. I knelt down to open it up, and just as I had hoped, it led to the store-room right by the Pokemon housing wing. I slipped down into the hole and after dangling for a moment, let myself drop the 25 or so feet onto the hard cement floor. The land was jarring, and I had to pause a moment to let my bones stop tingling. But otherwise I had gotten in, and I was unharmed.

I stood up and had to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I walked out of the storage room and made my way slowly down the hall of cages. My presence made some of the pokemon wake up and stir inside their containments but otherwise the wing was entirely silent. I walked over to where the ponyta was held, again laying on its scant pile of straw. With both hands, I grabbed hold of the fence and hoisted myself over the top, straddling the highest rung, and then dropping onto the concrete floor next to the ponyta. When I entered his containment he lifted his head and looked at me with his weak black eyes. He caught my scent and let out a little nicker.

"Hey there, buddy…How are you doing?" I whispered gently, kneeling down next to the pokemon. I stroked his neck as he sniffed my hand, his breath weak and lukewarm at most. He had to have been only about a year and a half, he was not old at all. And it pained me so much to see a baby in this much pain.

"Here, bud, I brought you a little something." I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the couple of vitamin capsules. I held them flat in my hand for him. "These should make you start feeling a lot better."

The ponyta sniffed the capsules, rolling them around in my palm with his nose, but didn't show much other interest in them.

"Come on, little one, I don't want to have to force feed you these." I coaxed. But still the ponyta didn't show any interest in eating the pills. "Alright, then. You asked for it." I put one arm over the ponyta's neck and clamped him close to me, holding gently to the bridge of his nose. Using my fingers, I pulled up one side of his lip and quickly slid the pills into his mouth through the space between his incisors and molars. He whinnied and tried to toss his head, but I took a firm grip on his jaw and forced his head up, gently stroking his throat to try to get him to swallow. The ponyta spooked and blasted me with flash fire, throwing me back a couple feet and singeing my jumpsuit. I sat up quickly and tried to pat out the smoldering flames. The ponyta was up on his feet now, thrashing his head and trying to spit out the bitter tasting substance. I hadn't been able to bring anything sweet to make the medicine taste better. I wish I had. But what's done was done.

I turned over and knelt on the hard floor and began to hum a song that my mom used to sing to the orphaned ponyta that she would have to bottle-feed. I don't know where it came from, don't really even know the words, but it was short and sweet and always seemed to make the pokemon calm. Ponyta too stopped thrashing when he heard my humming and stopped and stood for a while looking at me with perked up ears. After a few minutes of listening, he walked around his pen and knelt down next to me, resting his head on my lap. The lapping flames of his mane had calmed down now and no longer burned me to touch. I sat there with him, stroking his forehead and neck for probably close to two hours.

Gradually, I felt myself getting tired. I stirred, waking the sleeping pokemon in my lap. "I need to go now," I whispered. "If the other scientists find me here, I will get in **a lot** of trouble. But I promise, I will see you in the morning." I stood up and made my way over to the fence. The ponyta whinnied weakly at me, begging me not to go. "I have to." I replied. "But I promise, I'll be back to see you in the morning." I blew the ponyta a kiss, before climbing the fence again and dropping onto the other side. Then I headed back to the storage room, climbed onto the piles of unused equipment and crawled back the way I'd come.

The next morning, I was up and dressed and hurried out the door, anxious to see my new friend. The lab coat, fortunately, hid the scorch marks on my uniform so Professor Conifer didn't even notice them when I met with her in the lobby.

"Alright," She said as she guided me down the hall I had snuck into only hours before. "Today will be the first day you will really get hands on. You're going to assist some of the other scientists with an experiment."

I was listening, but I was also excitedly searching for the ponyta's containment. Finally, I saw the fence up in the distance, and tried to purse my lips together to hide my grin of anticipation. But when we came up on it, I was confused to see the pen empty and completely swept out. The card showing Ponyta's information had been torn from the fencepost, a small corner of the paper still tied there—the only proof that it had ever existed in the first place.

Against my better judgement, I stopped. "Where is the ponyta?" I asked, my voice sounding like a confused child.

"Oh…" Professor Conifer started, stopping next to me. "He passed away early this morning."

Everything around me stopped. Seconds ticked by for what felt like hours. "W-what…?" I managed to mouth after I had regained some control over my functions.

"He was found lying in the straw when the first few staff members came in." Professor Conifer continued. "They will be performing an autopsy later on to determine the cause."

I was numb. I had just seen him that night; mere hours before! I had just given him the medicine that was supposed to help make him better and now he was….

"But, that is just a part of life, isn't it? Sad as it is." The professor went on, breaking me from my trance. "Come, we have a lot of work to get to." She walked over to the door, pushing the crossbar open. She stopped when I didn't follow. "Jess." She called again. "Come along."

I swallowed hard. I had no words. I wanted to cry and say, 'but I just saw him last night!' but no words came. Finally I forced myself to take a long shaky breath, looked up to the ceiling to try to dissipate my tears, and turned to follow my teacher back into the laboratory.


	26. Chapter 26

The rest of the day was a blur. I only followed orders. I didn't think about what I was doing, I just did. Mix these two substances? Done. Figure out this equation? Done. Fill this syringe with this weird blue liquid? Sure, done. I only really broke from my trance when Professor Conifer said, "Alright, we are ready to bring in the specimen. Everyone, secure your masks and gloves."

The staff of about three other scientists, Professor Conifer, and myself, all switched out our gloves and pulled a simple face mask over our nose and mouth. Then another scientist wheeled in a bulbasaur strapped with leather restraints to a stainless steel table. It was still awake and looked very frightened.

After the one scientist had wheeled it into position, Professor Conifer reached up to the bright light above the table and turned it on. "Alright, we are ready to begin. Jess, please inject this into the base of its bulb." She wheeled over a tray containing a multitude of tools, including the syringe with the blue liquid I had prepared earlier. Obediently I lifted it and held it up to the light, flicking it gently to get any air bubbles out. Then I bent near the pokemon and gently inserted the needle right at the tender base of the bulb. The bulbasaur cried out in pain.

"Shh sh sh…" I hushed, stroking the pokemon under its jaw. "It's going to be alright, you are going to be just fine."

"Jess, do not talk to the specimen." Professor Conifer chided. "Benjamin, please begin the procedure."

A young man with dark skin and eyes lifted a scalpel from the tray and after a short period of gently prodding around the bulbasaur's bulb, he pressed the blade down on the crease and made a long slice.

The pokemon made a horrible cry. It pierced into my lungs and immediately broke me out of the dazed stupor I'd been in for the whole morning. I pushed Benjamin away from the pokemon. "Stop it! You're hurting it!"

"Jess, stop it, this instant!" Professor Conifer ordered.

"What is your problem?!" The man named Benjamin asked, pushing me back. "I have a job to do, here!"

"You can't wait for the anesthetic to set in or something?!" I snapped back.

"Uh, **What **anesthetic…?" Another girl across the table asked.

I looked over at her confused, then dropped my gaze to the empty syringe lying on the tray.

"That wasn't anesthetic." An Asian man said in a matter-of-fact dismissive tone. "That was something to neutralize the pokemon's Vine Whip attack. It was a low-grade herbicide."

I felt all the blood drain from my face. I was horrified. I stood frozen as the rest of the team stepped up to the table again.

"We have to do this biopsy quickly, before the rest of the bulb is damaged."

"Apply pressure to the fold, it should help staunch the blood-flow until the procedure is complete."

Benjamin pressed the sharp blade to the pokemon's bulb again, slicing easily through the soft leaf-like tissue. The bulbasaur let out another horrible scream.

I lost it. I darted back over to the table and shoved Benjamin away from the Pokemon on the table. He stumbled back and fell, losing grip of the scalpel. The blade flew from his hand and hit the girl. It sliced through her lab coat and cut into her arm. She screamed and grabbed her arm as the white fabric started to turn red. Professor Conifer ran over to the girl, who was now sobbing. I grabbed a pair of medical scissors lying on the tray and began cutting the bulbasaur's restraints.

"Get her to the infirmary, Now!" Professor Conifer yelled to the Asian man who had scolded me earlier, as she pulled the crying girl up to her feet. The man took the girl and helped her run out while I had just finished cutting one of Bulbasaur's legs free. I started working on the other one as quickly as I could when Professor Conifer stood up yanked me away from the table and smacked me across the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She screamed at me. "Do you realize what you have done?! The experiment you just destroyed was the culmination of thousands of dollars and three months of research!"

"This is wrong!" I screamed back. "You can't just treat Pokemon like machines to be taken apart and tested! They are living, feeling creatures, and you have to treat them with compassion!"

"Get this idea of Pokemon medicine out of your head! You are not in medical school anymore!" Professor Conifer snapped. "We are people of science! We are not here to help pokemon! We are not here to befriend the pokemon! We are here to study them, and that is all!"

"You're going about it all wrong!" I cried. "Pokemon aren't just plants or fibers to be studied under a microscope! They think, and feel, and have a way of life!" I swallowed hard. "They are living creatures and you have to treat them as such!"

Professor Conifer grimaced at me. "I think you need to have a long hard think about what you are doing with your life." She ripped off the key-card from around my neck shoving it into her pocket. Then she turned away from me. "Get out of my sight. I need to speak with Giovani about what will be done with you, but you are finished here." She turned her attention to the remaining scientists. "Take this bulbasaur back, it's useless now. The bulb will be practically dead in half an hour."

My blood burned. I stormed out of the room and stalked down the hallway, ripping my lab coat off my shoulders as I did so. I dropped it on the ground leaving it in a crumpled heap as I left the building.


	27. Chapter 27

I lay face-down on my bed crying tears of anger. Ponyta had essentially been murdered, due to sheer incompetence, and Bulbasaur had been permanently mutilated. While it probably wouldn't die as a direct result of the bulb being poisoned, it would never be able to evolve. It would never grow any stronger, and since photosynthesis accounts for a good portion of its nutrition, without proper diet it would probably die in a few weeks too. I clenched my fists. Stupid! How could I have not noticed what it was I was making! I was so caught up in the death of Ponyta, I hadn't been paying attention, and now I had just doomed another Pokemon to the same fate.

Pikachu jumped up and sat up on the bed next to me. "Pika Pi…?" He asked, patting my back.

"It's all my fault, Pikachu…" I sobbed, turning my head out from my pillow so I could breathe. "Two pokemon were hurt, because of me! What kind of place is this…? What kind of pokemon professor treats pokemon this way?!"

"Pika-chu?" Pikachu asked cocking his head.  
I rolled over and wiped my eyes. "I don't know what to do…they don't care about pokemon at all…! And if all the pokemon professors have worked with them…All discoveries have been made through blood…! They have their tendrils in everywhere! How could something this evil grow to be such an empire?"

I was startled by a sudden loud ding from the intercom in the hall. "Jess Newken. You are to report to the Administration Building immediately. Jess Newken to the Administration Building." Sergeant Viper's voice boomed through the narrow hallways of the partnered barracks.

I pulled my legs over the side of the bed and sat up, rubbing my eyes again to get rid of any trace of my tears. This had to be about my display at the laboratories—what else could it be about…? Was I going to be thrown out? Beaten? Worse? I picked up my glasses from where'd I'd set them on the desk and stood up, sliding the lenses on my face and trying to straighten my uniform. "Well…here's the moment of truth…Guess we'll find out what'll happen when I get there…"

"Pika-chuuuu…." Pikachu whined, dropping his ears back. I pursed my lips in a tight smile to reassure him, but we both knew it was no use. I walked out of the dorm toward what I was sure would be my doom.  
****************************************************************************************************/span/p  
I entered the administration building and almost immediately was met by Viper, who, without so much as a greeting, simply said. "Giovani would like a word with you. Follow me."

My heart pounded in my ears as Viper led me down the pristine hallway toward the CEO of Team Rocket. If the main boss wanted to see me…well, after what had just happened over at the laboratories it would most certainly be nothing good…. I swallowed hard and tried to put on a nonchalant face as Viper stopped and knocked on a large oak door.

"Come in." A strong male voice called from the other side. Viper opened the door and stepped aside for me to walk through, closing the door behind me.

In front of me, the CEO, Giovani, sat behind a long wooden desk in a large burgundy chair lined with gold trim. He was facing away from me, but I could see the sleeves of his dark grey suit-coat lying on the arm rests. Giovani wasn't facing me, but his pokemon, a persian, was. I was sure it was a pure-bred; it was probably the most beautiful persian I had ever seen. It's beige coat was so shiny it almost glinted metallic in the light. Its eyes were crisp, and the jewel on its forehead was as clear and glossy as a fresh rain—not even a hint of frostiness in it. When I entered the room it let out a long yawn, showing off it's sharp white teeth. Giovani reached over to stroke its head between its ears. It leaned into his hand and purred contentedly.

It was silent for a very long time before I finally found my voice. "You wanted to see me, Sir…?" I said shakily.

"I hope you realize that you and your sister have been somewhat of a thorn in my side ever since you came here." Giovani stated, jumping right to to the point. "Normally, when I come across particularly irritating recruits, I simply do away with them. This has happened to hundreds of young men and women seeking to wear the Team Rocket insignia by now…You two, however, seem to present me with somewhat of a predicament."

"P—predicament, Sir…?" I asked, still not taking my eyes off of the gorgeous persian.

"You two were some of the most promising recruits I've ever had." Giovani continued. "The top of your class, she excelled at the physical performance tests, you were phenomenal with pokemon knowledge and biology. However, ever since we enforced the rule that family cannot be on the same team, you two have been purposefully trying time and time again to mess things up!" He pounded his fist onto the arm of his chair. His persian meowed and he began to stroke it again. "Every time I think, 'that's it, this is the last straw, I need to get rid of these menaces once and for all,' you then turn around and impress me again, so that I can't in good conscience let those skills go to waste." He paused again. "What's more, I have already poured thousands of dollars by now into your training; it would be poor business practice to just throw away my investment in that manner." He turned his chair around so I finally saw his face. He was middle-aged, with brown hair slicked back. His broad shoulders filled out the dark gray double breasted suit, giving him almost the impression of an arbok's hood. His piercing black eyes stared intensely at me through his chiseled features finishing off his intimidating appearance. "I have decided to make a bargain with you."

"I'm listening." I replied.

"This will be your final chance." Giovani stated. "Prove to me that you were a good investment on my part. You will follow my orders exactly as I say, no questions asked, no objections. If you can do that, and prove to me that I did not waste my money, time, and resources on you, you will be allowed to remain. But one more failure, and…"

"REEEEEEEOW!" The persian screeched.

"Do we have a deal?" Giovani asked.

I thought about it for a while. "Just so we're clear…" I started, "Define success."

"Your sister and her teammates pass the field training course, for starters." Giovani replied. "Secondly that once you and they finally become field agents you prove your worth to me and bring in a perfect and impressive pokemon; one that will be good enough to make me forget about all your shortcomings."

"So, catching wild pokemon that show some sort of rare quality." I reiterated.

"Mmm.." Giovani hummed quietly, leaning forward on his desk. "Tell me, Miss Newken: What exactly do you think our mission is?"

This question took me by surprise. "To…find and study rare and exotic pokemon so we can better understand them…" I answered.

"WRONG!" Giovani barked, suddenly standing. "Our mission is to collect the world's most powerful pokemon. Those pokemon that aren't rare or powerful, we test, we experiment, and we improve! That is our mission! And if you need to steal those rare pokemon then so be it!

I stood, frozen, utterly stunned. What Cassidy had said to me and Jessee months earlier popped into my head. em"You wouldn't think I'd skip out on the chance to get in on the greatest crime organization on the planet do you?"/em I hadn't paid it much mind at the time, but suddenly it all made sense. That's why Cassidy was here. That's why she had been so shocked to see me and Jessee that day. That's why Professor Conifer and the rest of the scientists didn't seem to care about the pokemon. They were just lab rats! A means to an end! A chance to make the next generation stronger. And because the organization was so wide and trickled down into so many separate entities, it made it almost impossible to track down and bring to justice.

"So do we have a deal?" Giovani asked again, giving me a sly menacing grin. I felt a push against the back of my legs and looked down to notice the persian rubbing its long sleek body against me, pushing me forward toward the desk, where Giovani stood with hand extended for a shake.

I paused. "If I agree to this," I started nervously, "I just have to bring you impressive and powerful pokemon and me, Jessee, and our whole team stays safe?"

"I promise." Giovani affirmed, his menacing grin never once faltering.

I hesitated again, every moral fiber of my being, screaming to me that this was wrong. But in the end my need to protect my family won out. I reached out and grasped his hand tightly, shifting my gaze to his cold black eyes. "It's a deal."

"Wonderful." Giovani smiled, sitting back down in his large chair. "You will be tasked with the standard 'grunt' training until your sister and her team complete theirs, at which point you will immediately be sent out to begin on our arranged agreement." He turned his chair around again. "You will meet with the other grunts at 6:00 tomorrow morning to begin your supplementary training. You are dismissed."

I wanted to say something. I wanted to chastise him for being such a cruel and evil man. I wanted to challenge him to a pokemon battle…mess up his pretty little persian—then we'd see who was so great. But I didn't. I couldn't. He had me in a stale-mate using my siblings as pawns, and there was nothing I could do but play into his hand. So, I simply replied, "yes, sir." And left the room without another word.


	28. Chapter 28

I stepped back into the dorm room. Pikachu was quick to greet me, jumping right to my feet and standing up. "Pikachu, Pi pika!"

"Not now, Pikachu…" I said in exasperation.

"Pi?" Pikachu asked quizzically as I pushed past him and sat down at the desk burying my head in my arms. I felt disgusted. I felt repulsed. I felt physically sick. How did I get wrapped up in this situation? I'll tell you how—it was desperation. Desperation to keep money in our pockets and food on the table. Desperation to find James. Desperation to finally fulfill my dream of going out to capture pokemon. It all seemed too good to be true and turns out it was. Now I was tied up into a life of crime…we all were.

I let off a slow sigh. Truth of the matter was, none of that really mattered. In the end I had one goal—to keep my family safe, to keep Rapidash and Pikachu safe, and gosh darn it, I was going to do just that…even if I had to break my moral compass to do so.

Pikachu jumped up on the desk next to me. "Pika Pi?" He asked, tapping my shoulder.

I lifted my head. "I'm sorry Pikachu. I don't mean to snap at you…it's just been a really rough week…" I reached up and pet between his ears. He pressed into my palm chirping a little, _chaaa. _"I promise…no matter what, I will keep you safe. Whatever it takes…"

Our conversation was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from down the hall. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!"

Without thinking, I jumped up and darted out the door, Pikachu following closely behind. A couple dorms down I found the source of the scream. A girl from another team was standing on her desk cowering up against the wall. A large ekans had managed to slither into her room—I assume through the window she had stupidly left open—and now sat coiled up in the middle of her floor staring at her. It's rattling tail quivered violently as it hissed at her.

She caught sight of me and screamed. "Don't just stand there, Do something!"

"Calm down." I ordered back. "You're panicking; ekans can smell your fear and right now, this one has you marked as its prey."

"I don't care about the science behind it, just do something!" The girl whimpered, beginning to cry. The ekans poised itself for a strike.

"Pikachu, use scratch!" I ordered.

"Pika!" Pikachu obeyed, slashing Ekans' scaly body with his small but sharp claws. The ekans hissed, and turned to me. The diversion worked; I now had its attention.

"Pikachu," I ordered again, "Use quick attack!"

Pikachu darted through the room, slamming headfirst into Ekans' body. The snake pokemon hissed and tried to retaliate with a poison sting, but Pikachu was too quick and it missed.

"Use Thunder shock!" I commanded. Pikachu leaped into the air and let of a sharp lightning bolt. The attack paralyzed the pokemon and while it was still stunned I reached in my pocket and pulled out an empty pokeball I secretly kept with me just for situations like this. I expanded it and threw it at the pokemon lying motionless on the ground. It bounced off its body and opened, pulling the ekans into it with a beam of red light. It fell to the ground and rolled around for a few seconds before it finally went still.

I smirked as I reached to pick up the pokeball. "I've still got it." I thought as I brought the ball up to my face to get a good look at it. Out of my peripheral vision I noticed the girl still trembling on her desk. "It's safe now, you can get down." I said, maybe a bit snidely.

The girl paused a moment, then slowly climbed down back onto the floor, still shaken and very frightened by the pokemon I held in my hands. It was at this moment it clicked what I had just done. I had taken Pikachu out of hiding, gotten into a battle and caught an unauthorized pokemon on Team Rocket's grounds. With the new deal I had just made with Giovani, if word got out of what had just happened it could put my whole family in jeopardy.

Pikachu jumped up onto my shoulders as I let my eyes drift up toward the girl in front of me. "You can't ever let anyone know what happened here today." The girl stared at me dumbfounded. "I'm serious. You need to take this to your grave. I was never here, you never saw Pikachu, and a pokemon battle most certainly did NOT happen in your room."

"B-bbut—" The girl stuttered.

"No buts!" I barked, holding the pokeball out toward her. She whimpered and pulled back. "If word gets out of what happened I could lose every thing I love. So you will never breath a word of this to anyone, or so help me, I will set this ekans loose on you to devour everything **you** love."

"Ok…! Ok…! I won't tell anyone…!" The girl whimpered, shaking under the shadow of my pokeball.

"Swear it." I growled.

"I swear…! On my grandma's grave…! I won't tell anyone! Ever…!" The girl sputtered out. "Just please, take that thing away…!"

I pursed my lips and pulled the pokeball back to me. "Also," I said, giving the pokeball a little toss. "If you don't want ekans to come into your room looking for shade, you're gonna want to keep your window closed." I turned and left the room with a subtle roll of my eyes. "Just a thought…"

I sat on my bed, Pikachu still perched on my shoulder, staring down at the pokeball in my hand. "Well, Pikachu… What do you suppose we do with this one?"

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu replied.

I sighed. Let me specify, catching Pokemon in a pokeball without a Trainer's License isn't illegal. However, collecting a large number of pokemon without a Trainer's License is kind of pushing the line. While not explicitly illegal in itself, it is one of those things that can get you noticed by the authorities. Then if they investigate you and find some other shady stuff in your past, they can easily tack on "Pokemon Hoarding" as well. I already had Pikachu and Rapidash on my person.

Rapidash. Jessee would have had one too, but she had to sell hers in order to get the money to come out here. She may not have the same burning passion for pokemon that I did, but she loved that rapidash and missed her very much. I could see it in her eyes whenever I pulled out my rapidash's pokeball. I looked down at the ekans in my hands again. Rapidash eat a lot, however ekans eat hardly anything at all! They need one big meal, then they could be satisfied for days—weeks if they stay in their pokeball! And Jessee's birthday **was **coming up.

I smirked. "I know just what I'll do." I stood up, causing Pikachu to jump down off my shoulder and onto the bed. I knelt down and pulled out my saddlebags, hiding the pokeball in one of the pouches. I looked up at Pikachu and pressed a finger to my lips. "You can't tell Jessee about this. It'll ruin the surprise."

"Pi?" Pikachu asked cocking his head and twitching his ears.

Our conversation was interrupted when Jessee thrust open the door, followed by Meowth. I hurriedly shoved the saddlebags back under the bed and stood up. "Jessee? What are you doing back so soon?"

"We're being sent out on another mission." Jessee growled, shoving a few items into a small sack which she threw over her shoulder.

"What's wrong with that…?" I asked stupidly.

Jessee huffed and let herself fall against the desk. "First of all, the only competition we have in this mission is Cassidy of all people. Secondly, maybe you haven't noticed, but Cassidy has a partner while I'm the only one left on my team."

"Hey! What am I, chopped liver?" Meowth scoffed, his tail lashing back and forth.

"What you are is not very helpful." Jessee shot back. "Half the time I have to cary you or drag you along through the training exercises and missions. I don't think you've done a single thing worth while since you got assigned to us. If James hadn't been there for you on the bridge—" She suddenly stopped, her lip quivering. She and Meowth stared at each other for a long while. Finally Jessee stood up and turned away. "Forget it." She hoisted the bag back onto her shoulder. "Just do me a favor and either start pulling your weight or stay out of my way." She walked past Meowth toward the open doorway.

"Do you know where you're going to be going?" I asked gently.

"Silph Company Headquarters. Apparently Saffron City is not far from here." She looked back toward me. "I'm going to stop by the hospital first to see James and tell him what is going on. I should be back in a couple days, and, well…we'll see what happens."

She gave an exasperated shrug and left the room, Meowth running after her.

I sat back down on the bed. Silph Co…what on Earth could they be doing there…? Based on some of the missions in the past, probably some sort of heist or reconnoissance mission. But the Silph Company was huge! And constantly crawling with guards…! I inhaled deeply and exhaled a long sigh. This mission had to be a success—our lives and futures were depending on it.


End file.
